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POEMS 



MISS if F. GOULD. 



SECOND EDITION, 



WITH ADDITIONS. 



BOSTON. 

HILLIARD, GRAY, AND CO, 

1833. 



12 ZZ 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1832, by 
Hilliard, Gray, & Co. in the Clerk's Office of the District Court 
of Massachusetts. 



f 
? R 1 9 1940 



FREEMAN AND BOLLES, 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



Many of the pieces, which constitute this little 
volume, have been collected by the friends of Miss 
Gould, from the various periodical works in which they 
at first appeared. Others, also, have been obtained, 
which have never before been published. The cause, 
which has led to their present publication, is a desire 
that they may be preserved in a more permanent form, 
and a hope that the proceeds may be acceptable to the 
author, at whose disposal they are exclusively and re- 
spectfully placed. 

Boston, March, 1832. 



NOTICE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



The great favor with which this little work has been received, 
the whole edition having been taken off in a few months, has 
induced the publishers to issue a second edition, which they now 
present to the public, enriched with more than twenty new pieces. 

Boston, February, 1833. 



ERRATA. 
Page 21, line 4, strike out may, before look, 
" 91, " 16, for ere read o'er. 
11 98," 6, for there read their. 
" 192, " 9, for visions read vision. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Apprehension, 1 

The Sun Dial's Matins, 2 

The Loose Feather, 4 

The White Cloud, 5 

The Ground Laurel, 7 

To the Mourner, 9 

The Fortune-Teller, . . 10 

Song of the Bees, , 12 

The Conqueror, 13 

The Snow-Flake, 14 

The Black at Church, 36 

The Little Foot, 18 

The Winds, 20 

The Trunk from Sea, 22 

Who is My Neighbor, . 24 

What is This, 26 

The Frost, 28 

The Scar of Lexington, 30 

The Storm, • . 32 

The Broken Hearted, 33 

A Voice from Mount Auburn, 35 

The Soldier to his Plume, 37 

My Own Wild Bower, 38 

The Coronation, 39 

B 



VI 

The Departure, . . 40 

The Weeper, 41 

The Dying Exile, 43 

The Star, 45 

The Wounded Bird, 47 

To the Siamese Twins, 49 

Warning from the Gold Mine, 51 

The Frozen Dove, 53 

The Dying Storm, 54 

The Fly's Revenge, 55 

The Voice of the Eagle, 57 

The Young Artist, 60 

The Meteor, 63 

The Empaled Butterfly, 64 

The Breast-Pin, .... .... 66 

The Winter Burial, 67 

The Robe, 68 

The Choice of a Prize, 70 

The Lily, 73 

Mount Olivet, .74 

The Mermaid's Song, 76 

The Consignment, . . 77 

The Musical Box, 79 

Address to the Automaton Chess Player, . . . .81 

The Empty Bird's Nest, 84 

The Soul's Farewell, 86 

The Playthings, 88 

The Maniac, 89 

Native Attachment, 91 

The Slave Mother's Prayer, 93 

The Little Boy to the Cricket, 95 

The Midnight Mail, 98 

A Voice from the Wine Press, 100 

To My Watch, 103 

Thoughts, 105 

The Zephyr's Soliloquy, 108 

Forest Music, Ill 



Vll 

The Prostrate Pink, .112 

The Benefactor, 114 

The New Tomb, . 116 

The Blind Man, 118 

The Ship is Ready, 119 

The Anemone, 121 

Written in an Album, 122 

Recollections, 123 

To the Moonbeams, 125 

The Cherokee at Washington, 126 

The Thrice Closed Eye, 128 

To A ******, ......... 130 

A Hymn at Sea, 132 

American Hymn, 133 

Funeral Dirge, 135 

The Indian Boy with his Father's Bow, .... 136 

Whitefield's Remains, . . 137 

The Release, 139 

The Moon upon the Spire, 141 

The Widow's Lullaby, 143 

The Methodist Church, 144 

The Butterfly's Dream, 146 

Mary Dow, . 149 

The Crocus's Soliloquy, . . . . . . . 152 

The Dissatisfied Angler Boy, 153 

Cupid's Warning, 154 

The Revolutionary Soldier's Bequest, 155 

To Mrs. L**, 159 

The Pebble and the iVcorn, 162 

It Snows, 164 

A Sabbath at Nahant, 166 

The Spouting Horn, . . . . . . . . 168 

The Lost Kite, 170 

The Veteran and the Child, 172 

The Ruin, 174 

The Voice, 177 



vm 

The Alabaster Box, 179 

The Empty Bier, 181 

The Lost Hyacinth, 183 

Echo, 185 

Hymn of the Reapers, 187 

The Quaker, 189 

Washington, 194 

The Great Refiner, 197 

The Waterfall, 199 

Winter and Spring, 201 

Folly made Left-Handed, 203 

Sunrise to the Slave, 205 

Death of Sir Walter Scott, 207 

IMITATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH. 

Address to an Infant, 209 

The Siller Pen, 211 

Episile to a Friend, 213 

Greetin Mary, 217 

The Bellvvort, 219 

To Autumn, 220 

The Sealing Wax 223 



POEMS, 



APPREHENSION. 

' Oh ! sister, he is so swift and tall, 
Though I want the ride, he will spoil it all, 
For, when he sets out, he will let me fall, 

And give me a bump, I know ! 
Mamma, what was it I heard you say, 
About the world's hobbies, the other day, 
How some would get on and gallop away, 

To end with an overthrow ? ' 

1 1 said, little prattler, the world was a race, 

That many would mount with a smile on the face, 

And ride to their ruin, or fall in disgrace : 

That him, who was deaf to fear, 
And did not look out for a rein or a guide, 
His courser might cast on the highway side, 
In the mud, rocks, and brambles, to end his ride, 

Perchance with a sigh and a tear ! 

' Oh ! sister, sister ! I fear to try ; 

For Brutus's back is so 'live and high ! 

It creeps at my touch — and he winks his eye — 

I' m sure he is going to jump ! 
Come ! dear mother, tell us some more 
About the world's ride, as you did before, 
Who helped it up — and all how it bore 

The fall, and got over the bump ! ' 



THE SUN DIAL'S MATINS. 

Thou god of my worship, my early devotion 

I offer unmingled to thee ! 
I live at thy coming ; I go by thy motion ; 

Thy presence is being to me ! 

At eve, in the west when thy glories are sinking, 
And the spires and the hill tops have caught 

Thy parting embrace, then I feel myself sinking, 
To pass for awhile into nought. 

For man looks estranged, as he never had known me, 

Though late he believed me so true ; 
And, darkness descending, the night will not own me, 

But loads me with umbrage and dew ! 

The moon, a false queen ! with reserve seems to chill me, 

Her beams are so distant and Dale ; 
The stars, changing glances, with twinkling would kill 
me, 

Should faith in my deity fail. 

But I feel on its axle the globe is revolving ; 

And know with the morn I shall see 
Those mimics, so vain, in thy brightness dissolving, 

And nature rejoicing in thee. 



So, patient I wait, uncomplaining and fearless, 
Nor faint when thy face is withdrawn ; 

For, never has night been so lengthened or cheerless. 
It has not been followed by dawn. 

I turn not to earth ; for she ever has given 

Obscurity, vapor and dust ; 
I ask not of self, but I look up to heaven 

For guidance, with hope and with trust. 

Though clouds oft have gathered to tempt or persuade 
me 

My God and my faith to deny, 
Thy beams, darting through them, have ever repaid me 

For placing my treasure on high. 

Then, hail to thy rising ! bright god, in thy splendor ! 

While glory is marking thy way, 
Darkness and damps their dominion surrender, 

And fly from the monarch of day ! 

O light ! thou art truth ! though to me but diurnal, 

On thee my affections shall feed. 
And he, who will look in the Sun-Dial's journal, 

My life and its moral may read ! 



THE LOOSE FEATHER. 

' T is wandering down through pathless air, 
A lonely thing in a boundless space, 

That has lost its way, and knows not where 
To find a home, or a resting place. 

The fearless breast, where late 'twas worn, 
Has met the arrow the foeman hurled; 

The venturous wing, by which 't was borne 
Through clouds, must soon in death be furled. 

Poor timorous thing ! when it felt the dart, 

Where it peaceful lay, how it fluttered and fled ; 

Nor staid till the blood of the eagle's heart, 
To sully and moisten its down, was shed ! 

And now, as in careless sport, 'tis tossed 
Above the stream by the whiffling wind ! 

In the next swift wave 't will be curled and lost, 
Nor leave one trace of itself behind. 

So fly the joys that warm the breast, 

Where they in their downy lightness grew, 

When their only home and their native rest 
The shaft of sorrow is passing through. 

And what shall again, the wounded heart 
And its vanished peace e'er bring together ? 

Ah ! sundered once, they must sink apart, 
Like the stricken bird and her falling feather ! 



THE WHITE CLOUD. 

What next — what next, thou changeful thing, 
With the feathery breast and the silver wing, 
That seem'st, like a lonely bird, to fly 
To some distant home, o'er the clear, blue sky? 
I saw thee suspended, a moment ago, 
By a hand unseen, like a wreath of snow — 
Withheld from a fall that might give it a stain 
So deep it could never be blanched again. 
And once thou hast shown in a cluster of flowers, 
Pure as if bent from the heavenly bowers, 
Defying this valley of shadow and blight 
To sully or wither their leaves of light ! 
I've seen thee, too, pass over my head,. 
Like a beautiful ship with her sails all spread, 
That, laden with treasures too pure and bright 
For an earthly touch,' or a mortal's sightj 
Was proud to some far-off port to bear~ 
Her viewless riches through seas of air ! 
Again — thou hast seemed as the spirit of love 
His mantle had dropped from the realms above, 
And 't was floating along, as a sign, to show 
To those who should look from the world below, 
That their garments must be of a spotless white 
Before they can enter a world of light ! 
Beautiful changeling ! now — even now, 
I see thee dissolving, I know not how — 
Thine atoms are scattered, and, one by one, 
Melted and lost in the rays of the sun ! 
2 



Vapor deceitful ! cloud of the morn ! 

Like thee are the hopes that of earth are born ! 

Their forms are varying, high and fair ; 

But melted by light — rent in pieces by air ! 

Bright vision of falsehood, thou shalt teach 

The soul, in her search for joys, to reach 

To a world of truth, where deceit is o'er — 

Where changes and clouds shall be known no more ! 



THE GROUND LAUREL.* 

I love thee, pretty nursling 

Of vernal sun and rain ; 
For thou art Flora's firstling, 

And leadest in her train. 

When far away I found thee 

It was an April morn ; 
The chilling blast blew round thee, 

No bud had decked the thorn. 

And thou alone wert hiding 
The mossy rocks between, 

Where, just below them gliding, 
The Merrimack was seen. 

And while my hand was brushing 
The seary leaves from thee, 

It seemed that thou wert blushing 
To be disclosed to me. 

So modest, fair and fragrant, 
Where all was wild and rude, 

To cheer the lonely vagrant 
Who crossed thy solitude, — 

* Epigaa Repens, 



8 



Thou didst reward my ramble 

By shining at my feet, 
When, over brake and bramble, 

I sought thy lone retreat, — 

As some sweet flower of pleasure 
Upon our path may bloom, 

'Mid rocks and thorns that measure 
Our journey to the tomb I 



TO THE MOURNER. 

We would not check the starting tear, 

Nor bid thee cease to mourn 
The friend thy bosom held most dear 

So early from thee torn ; 
For, when in death a loved one slept, 
Among the sorrowing, " Jesus wept!" 

But has not Jesus passed the tomb, 

To break its bars away ? 
And, darting through its fearful gloom 

The beams of endless day, 
Does he not, from the other side, 
Bid none to fear, since he has died. 

And, mourner, will not sighing cease, 

When thou canst look above, 
And feel that, from a world of peace, 

Thou hast an angel's love ? 
That she is safe, where none may fear 
Death, pain, or change that wound us here r 

When he, who wept at human wo. 

Shall in the clouds appear, 
Awaking millions then shall know, 

To those who owned him here, 
He is the resurrection ! — he, 
Life, light and immortality ! 



10 



THE FORTUNE-TELLER. 

How well I remember the hovel, that stood 
Beyond the green mead, in the skirt of the wood, 
For which, in my childhood, I turned from the road 
To visit the hag that within it abode ; 
When, with ninepence, long treasured, so nobly I feed 
The wrinkled-browed Sybil my fortune to read ? — 
And how, tho' I'd run, till my breath was nigh spent, 
When I came near the hut, I began to relent ! 
For, nightshade and hemlock grew under the eaves, 
And seemed to have " sorcery " writ on their leaves. 
When the feathery group gave their ominous shout, 
I thought of the chicks Mother Carey sent out ! 
Then, there lay old Growler at length on the floor, 
And looked like the wicked one keeping the door 5 
With eyes semi-closed, as inclining to sleep, 
But ope'd now and then, for an impious peep ; 
And even the puss, as she dozed on the hearth, 
I thought had a spice of the witch from her birth ! 

And, when the brown seer her wonderful cup, 
With thick-settled tea-leaves,had whirled and turned up, 
I deemed, as she looked so sagacious within it, 
The end of my being was fixed from that minute ; 
That if the least specks on its sides were deranged, 
'Twas over — my fortune forever was changed ! 
With motion suspended, and speech wholly gone, 
In wonder and awe, as I stood and looked on, 



11 



The few grizzled hairs, from her temples that strayed, 

Seemed turning to serpents, that hissed as they played, 

Defying the fillet to keep them in cheek, 

Across the deep seams of my oracle's neck. 

The thread of my life at that moment seemed hung, 

In its many-hue d twist, from the tip of her tongue. 

And she opened her lips with such bright and fair things, 

That, my head all on fire, and my fancy on wings, 

I flew to my home, and retired to my bed, 

To gild my gay dreamings with all she had said. 

But years have since taught me how foolish and vain 

Was the "refuge of lies" for a pitiful gain. 

Of the hut or its inmate no vestige is seen 

But the mound, where the prophetess sleeps on the 

green. 
My fortune — the path of my life has been made 
O'er flowers and o'er brambles — through sunshine and 

shade — 
So changeful and chequered, I would not be told, 
One hour, what the leaf of the next may unfold. 
While fearless I trust to a finger divine 
To point out my footsteps and mark every line, 
May I look above earth for a light to my mind, 
Till I leave superstition and error behind, 
And drop this short lesson to childhood and youth — 
<c Shun falsehood ! — love science, and seek only truth!" 



12 



SONG OF THE BEES. 

We watch for the light of the morn to break 

And color the eastern sky 
With its blended hues of saffron and lake, 
Then say to each other, " Awake ! awake ! 
" For our winter's honey is all to make, 

" And our bread for a long supply !" 

Then, off we hie to the hill and the dell, 

To the field, the meadow and bower. 
In the columbine's horn we love to dwell, 
To dip in the lily with snow-white bell, 
To search the balm in its odorous cell, 
The mint and the rosemary-flower. 

We seek the bloom of the eglantine, 

Of the painted thistle and brier ; 

And follow the steps of the wandering vine, 

Whether it trail on the earth, supine, 

Or round the aspiring tree-top twine, 

And reach for a state still higher. 

As each, on the good of her sisters bent, 

Is busy and cares for all ; 
We hope for an evening with hearts content, 
For the winter of life without lament 
That summer is gone with its hours misspent, 
Vnd the harvest is past recall ! 



13 



THE CONQUEROR. 

There's blood on the laurel that wreathes his brow, 

And the death-cry delights his ear ! 
The widow is wailing his victory now ; 

And his meed is the orphan's tear. 

But the might of his arm shall lose its dread, 

For a mightier foe comes near ! 
The plume will be stripped from the conqueror's head 

To wave o'er the conqueror's bier ! 

Alone he must march to the terrible fight, 

For there is no army to save ! 
His glory will set in an endless night, 

And his honors be hid in the grave. 

He must tread the darksome valley alone, 

Assailed by remorse and fear ; 
Nor rod nor staff help the traveller on ; 

Nor is there a comforter near. 

He sinks ! and none shall his requiem sound, 

Nor sprinkle his turf with tears. 
His head with the clods of the vale is crown'd, 

And a shroud is the buckler he wears ! 

But who shall follow the fugitive home 

When his last great battle is o'er ; 
Or sever the curtain that veils the doom 

Of a soul on an untried shore ? 



14 
THE SNOW-FLAKE. 

" Now, if I fall, will it be my lot 

To be cast in some lone, and lowly spot, 

To melt, and to sink, unseen, or forgot ? 

And there will my course be ended?" 
'T was this a feathery Snow-Flake said, 
As down through measureless space it strayed, 
Or, as half by dalliance, half afraid, 

It seemed in mid air suspended. 

tl Oh ! no," said the Earth, " thou shalt not lie 
Neglected and lone on my lap to die, 
Thou pure and delicate child of the sky ! 

For, thou wilt be safe in my keeping. 
But then, I must give thee a lovelier form — 
Thou wilt not be part of the wintry storm, 
But revive, when the sunbeams are yellow and warm, 

And the flowers from my bosom are peeping ! 

" And then thou shalt have thy choice, to be 
Restored in the lily that decks the lea, 
In the jessamine-bloom, the anemone, 

Or aught of thy spotless whiteness : — 
To melt, and be cast in a glittering bead, 
With the pearls, that the night scatters over the mead, 
In the cup where the bee and the fire-fly feed, 

Regaining thy dazzling brightness. 

"I'll let thee awake from thy transient sleep, 
When Viola's mild blue eye shall weep, 
In a tremulous tear ; or, a diamond, leap 



15 



In a drop from the unlock'd fountain : 
Or leaving the valley, the meadow and heath, 
The streamlet, the flowers and all beneath, 
Go up and be wove in the silvery wreath 

Encircling the brow of the mountain. 

" Or wouldst thou return to a home in the skies ! 
Go shine in the Iris ; I '11 let thee arise, 
And appear in the many and glorious dyes 

A pencil of sunbeams is blending ! 
But true, fair thing, as my name is Earth, 
I '11 give thee a new and vernal birth, 
When thou shalt recover thy primal worth, 

And never regret descending ! " 

" Then I will drop," said the trusting Flake ; 
u But, bear it in mind, that the choice I make 
Is not in the flowers, nor the dew to wake ; 

Nor the mist, that shall pass with the morning. 
For, things of thyself, they expire with thee ; 
But those that are lent from on high, like me, 
They rise and will live, from thy dust set free, 

To the regions above returning. 

I And, if true to thy word, and just thou art, 
Like the spirit that dwells in the holiest heart, 
Unsullied by thee, thou wilt let me depart 

And return to my native heaven. 
For, I would be placed in the beautiful bow, 
From time to time, in thy sight to glow, 
So thou may'st remember the Flake of Snow, 

By the promise that God hath given ! " 



16 

THE BLACK AT CHURCH. 

God, is thy throne accessible to me — 
Me of the Ethiop skin ? May I draw near 

Thy sacred shrine, and humbly bend the knee, 
While thy white worshippers are kneeling here ? 

May I approach celestial purity, 

And not offend thee with my sable face ? 

This company of saints, so fair to see, 

Behold ! already shrink from the disgrace ! 

Yet, in thine earthly courts, I'll gladly bow 
Behind my fellow-worms, and be denied 

Communion with them, will my Lord allow 
That I may come and touch his bleeding side ! 

In that blest fount have I an equal claim 

To bathe, with all who wear the stain of sin ? 

Or, is salvation by another name 

Than thine ? — or, must the Ethiop change his skin ? 

Thou art our Maker, and I fain would know 
If thou hast different seats prepared above, 

To which the master and the servant go 
To sing the praise of thine eternal love ! 

There will my buyer urge iMe price of gold, 
Which here, for this uncomely clay he gave, 

That he my portion may appoint, and hold 
In bondage still, the helpless, trembling slave ? 



17 



Or, will the dearer ransom, paid for all, 
A Saviour's blood, impress me with the seal 

Of everlasting freedom from my thrall, 
And wash me white and this crushed spirit heal ? 

Then, will I meekly bear these lingering pains, 
And suffer scorn, and be by man opprest, 

If, at the grave, I may put off my chains, 
And thou wilt take me where the weary rest ! 



18 



THE LITTLE FOOT. 

My boy, as gently on my breast, 

From infant sport, thou sink'st to rest ; 

And on my hand I feel thee put, 

In playful dreams, thy little foot, 

The thrilling touch sets every string 

Of my full heart to quivering ; 

For, ah ! I think, what chart can show 

The ways through which this foot may go ? 

Its print will be, in childhood's hours, 
Traced in the garden, round the flowers; 
But youth will bid it leap the rills, 
Bathe in the dew on distant hills, 
Roam o'er the vales, and venture out 
When riper years would pause and doubt, 
Nor brave the pass, nor try the brink 
Where youth's unguarded foot may sink. 

But what, when manhood tints thy cheek, 
Will be the ways this foot will seek ? 
Is it to lightly pace the deck, 
Helpless, to slip from off the wreck ? 
Or wander o'er a foreign shore, 
Returning to thy home no more, 
Until the bosom now thy pillow, 
Is low and cold beneath the willow ? 



m 



19 



Or, is it for the battle-plain, 
Beside the slayer and the slain ? 
Will there its final step be taken ? 
There, sleep thine eye no more to waken ? 
Is it to glory or to shame — 
To sully, or to gild thy name ? 
Is it to happiness or wo 
This little foot is made to go ? 

But wheresoe'er its lines may fall, 
Whether in cottage or in hall ; 
O, may it ever shun the ground 
Where'er his foot was never found, 
Who, on his path of life, hath shed 
A living light, that all may tread 
Upon his earthly steps ; and none 
E'er dash the foot against a stone ! 

Yet, if thy way is marked by fate, 
As, guilty, dark and desolate ; 
If thou must float, by vice and crime, 
A wreck, upon the stream of time ! 
Oh ! rather than behold that day, 
I'd know this foot, in lightsome play, 
Would bound, with guiltless, infant glee, 
Upon the sod that sheltered me ! 



20 



THE WINDS. 

We come ! we come ! and ye feel our might, 
As we're hastening on in our boundless flight, 
And over the mountains, and over the deep, 
Our broad, invisible pinions sweep 
Like the spirit of liberty, wild and free ! 
And ye look on our works, and own 'tis we : 
Ye call us the Winds ; but can ye tell 
Whither we go, or where we dwell ? 

Ye mark, as we vary our forms of power, 

And fell the forests, or fan the flower, 

When the hare-bell moves, and the rush is bent, 

When the tower ' s o'erthrown, and the oak is rent, 

As we waft the bark o'er the slumbering wave, 

Or, hurry its crew to a watery grave ; 

And ye say it is we ! but can ye trace 

The wandering Winds to their secret place ? 

And, whether our breath be loud and high, 
Or come in a soft and balmy sigh, 
Our threatenings fill the soul with fear, 
Or our gentle whisperings woo the ear 
With music aerial, still, 'tis we. 
And ye list, and ye look ; but what do ye see ? 
Can ye hush one sound of our voice to peace, 
Or waken one note, when our numbers cease ? 



21 



Our dwelling is in the Almighty's hand ; 
We come and we go at his command. 
Tho'joy or sorrow may mark our track, 
f His will is our guide and we may look not back : 
And if, in our wrath, ye would turn us away ? 
Or win us in gentle airs to play, 
Then, lift up our hearts to him who binds, 
Or frees, as he will, the obedient Winds ! 



22 



THE TRUNK FROM SEA. 

Strength of my strength ! around me, lest I sink, 

Place thine Almighty arm, and bear me up ; 
Lest I should faint, and thus refuse to drink, 

When thou, my Father, dost present the cup ! 
This double trial of the heart and flesh 

How shall I stand, till thou the power supply ? 
This fearful opening of the wound afresh 

How can I bear with no physician by ? 

I knew my son — I knew too well that he 

His dying pillow found upon the wave — 
I knew the solemn wailing of the sea 

Was still the dirge o'er his unfathomed grave ! 
Yet, strange delusion ! — worse than vain deceit ! 

How oft to this weak fancy did it seem 
That still my child and I on earth should meet — 

That I'd been struggling through a troubled dream ! 

For, when he last was folded to my heart, 

The tide of life in his young breast was high, 
I from his cheek have seen no rose depart ; 

Have marked no lustre fading from his eye. 
But now, this awful speaker ! — as the lid 

Slowly is raised its bosom to unveil, 
Truth, like a bolt that in the cloud was hid, 

Bursts on my sight, and strikes the spirit pale ! 



23 



Here is the vesture ! — here's the faithful friend, 

Wrapped in deep silence, in its case of gold, 
Whose little hand was by him to the end, 

Nor rested till its master's hand was cold. 
Here is the seal, that all his letters bear ; 

The chain — the gift that near his heart was worn. 
This — sad memorial ! 'tis a lock of hair 

That from his head some careful hand hath shorn ! 

And here's the lamp that shone upon his way, 

God's everlasting Word, his trust and guide. 
It is the food that fed him day by day ; 

The fountain that his draught of life supplied . 
It is the sacred casket whence he took 

The goodly pearl that in his crown is set ; 
The radiant centre where he loved to look 

On justice, peace, and truth, and mercy met. 

To its pure Author every glowing line, 

That forms this hallow'd book, he fondly traced. 
Thus o'er my soul pour in, O light divine, 

And I will open where his mark is placed ! 
'Tis at the Saviour's tomb ! — but here, instead 

Of the pale clay, are angels shining now ! 
The grave is broken ! for, behold ! the dead 

Is risen, and sweetly asks, " Why weepest thou ?" 



24 



WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? 

Who is thy neighbor! — see him stand, 

With sunken cheek and eye, 
Where hunger shows the empty hand 

Thy bounty can supply ! 
Look where the widowed mother pines 

For what thou well canst spare ; 
Where palsied age, in want, reclines, 

And see thy neighbor there ! 

Behold him in the stranger, thrown 

Upon a foreign shore, 
Who, homeless, friendless, and alone, 

Is shivering at thy door ! 
Go meet him in thine enemy, 

And good for evil pay ; 
And bear in mind, for such as he, 

Thy Saviour bids thee pray. 

Go seek him in the dungeon's night, 

And comfort there impart ; 
Implore the smile of Heaven to light 

That desolated heart. 
Look where the son of Afric sighs 

For rights enjoyed by thee ; 
He is thy neighbor ! — loose his ties 

And set the captive free ! 



25 

Columbia, favored of the skies ! 

How can thy banner wave, 
While at thy feet, thy neighbor lies 

A crushed and fettered slave ? 
There is a blot among its stars ; 

A stain upon thy hand ; 
A mark upon thy face, that mars 

The beauty of our land ! 

Thou noble tree of liberty, 

Should not thy verdure fade 
O'er him who would his neighbor see 

Excluded from thy shade ? 
Did they who reared thee by their toil 

Not will thy fruit to be, 
Alike, for all who tread thy soil, 

A harvest sweet and free ? 



26 



WHAT IS THIS? 

Am I dreaming ? what is this ? 
Is it anguish ? — is it bliss ? 
3 T is a mingling of the twain ; 
Doubtful joy, and certain pain ; 
Feeble gleams of morning light 
Playing through the shades of night ! 
Ah ! the same unconscious wing 
Wafts the honey and the sting ! 

Quickly passing from the view 
Of the mind, that's fleeting too, 
What a vast and varied crowd ! 
Bridal vesture ; funeral shroud ; 
Robes of honor; weeds of wo; 
Oh ! the wearers, how they go ! 
Scarce a glimpse of each is caught, 
Ere the vision turns to nought. 

Well ! and is there nothing more, 
When the busy dream is o'er ? 
Ay ! 'tis truth the waking brings ; 
'T is a world of real things : — 
Nothing transient, nothing mixed ; 
All is clear, and all is fixed. 
Be it anguish, be it bliss, 
'T is no changing scene, like this ! 



27 

Then, thou slumbering soul, awake ! 
Let these earthly baubles break, 
Let the mildew blight the tree ! 
Here's no fruit to nourish thee. 
Up ! and from the ruins haste ; 
Look not back upon the waste ! 
Up ! and fasten on the prize 
That is offered from the skies ! 



28 



THE FROST. 

The Frost looked forth one still, clear night, 
And whispered, " Now I shall be out of sight ; 
So through the valley and over the height, 

In silence I '11 take my way. *" 
I will not go on like that blustering train, 
The wind and the snow, the hail qp.d the rain, 
Who make so much bustle and noise in^vain, 

But I '11 be as busy as tfrey !" 

Then he flew to the mountain, and powdered its crest ; 
He lit on the trees, and their boughs he drest * 
In diamond beads — and over the breast 

Of the quivering lake, he spread g 

A coat of mail, that it need not fear 
The downward point of many a spear, 
That he hung on its margin, far and near, 

Where a rock could rear its head. 

He went to the windows of those who slept, 
And over each pane, like a fairy, crept; 
Wherever he breathed, wherever he stepped, 

By the light of the morn were seen 
Most beautiful things ; there were flowers and trees ; 
There were bevies of birds and swarms of bees ; 
There were cities with temples and towers ; and these 

All pictured in silver sheen ! 



29 



But he did one thing that was hardly fair. 
He peeped in the cupboard, and finding there, 
That all had forgotten for him to prepare, 

" Now, just to set them a-thinking, 
I'll bite this basket of fruit," said he, 
" This costly pitcher I'll burst in three ; 
And the glass of water they've left for me 
Shall ' tchick ! ' to tell them I 'm drinking ! ' ' 



30 



THE SCAR OF LEXINGTON. 

With cherub smile, the prattling boy, 
Who on the veteran's breast reclines, 

Has thrown aside his favorite toy, 
And round his tender finger twines 

Those scattered locks, that with the flight 

Of four-score years are snowy white ; 

And, as a scar arrests his view, 

He cries, " Grand-Pa', what wounded you? " 

" My child, 'tis five and fifty years 

This very day, this very hour, 
Since from a scene of blood and tears, 

Where valor fell by hostile power, 
I saw retire the setting sun 
Behind the hills of Lexington ; 
W^hile pale and lifeless on the plain 
My brothers lay, for freedom slain ! 

And ere that fight, the first that spoke 

In thunder to our land, was o'er, 
Amid the clouds of fire and smoke 

I felt my garments wet with gore ! 
'T is since that dread and wild affray, 
That trying, dark, eventful day 
From this calm April eve so far, 
I wear upon my cheek the scar, 



31 

When thou to manhood shalt be grown, 

And I am gone in dust to sleep, 
May freedom's rights be still thine own, 

And thou and thine in quiet reap 
The unblighted product of the toil 
In which my blood bedewed the soil ! 
And, while those fruits thou shalt enjoy, 
Bethink thee of this scar, my boy ! 

But, should thy country's voice be heard 

To bid her children fly to arms, 
Gird on thy Grandsire's trusty sword ) 

And, undismayed by war's alarms, 
Remember, on the battle-field, 
I made the hand of God my shield ! 
And, be thou spared, like me, to tell 
What bore thee up, while others fell ! 



32 



THE STORM. 

Wild are the winds ! the heavens are dark ! 

And he is out on a pathless deep ; 
Who will manage the weltering bark ? 

Who o'er him will the night watch keep ? 

God of the ocean, earth, and air, 

Over the high and perilous wave 
Carry him safe, for thou art there — 

Thine eye is watching ; thine arm can save ! 

Author of light, the skies unveil, 

That the shining hosts, from their lofty arch, 
May again beam down on his wandering sail 

As in glory they move on their nightly march. 

When he has closed his weary eyes, 
Lulled by the billows that harmless roll, 

Visions of bliss and beauty, rise 

In flowery dreams to the waking soul ! 

But who shall dream, till the storm is past? 

Who 'mid the elements' war shall sleep ? 
Spirit of mercy, hold him fast ! 

For he is out on an angry deep ! 



33 



THE BROKEN HEARTED. 

She braided a wreath for her silken hair, 
And kindled a smile on her sad, pale face ; 

For a secret hand had been writing there, 
In lines that sorrow alone could trace ! 

She gave a check to the rising sigh, 
And sent it again at its source to swell ; 

While she turned to dash from her tearful eye 
A glittering drop, that her tale might tell. 

Her foot in the dazzling hall was found 
As lightly the maze of the dance to thread, 

While, sportive, she moved to the viol's sound, 
As if not a hope of her heart had fled ! 

Yet she wished, ere a rose in her wreath should die, 
Or the smile on her lip should cease to play, 

Her head on the pillow of death might lie, 

And the suffering chords of her heart give way ! 

But she poured no plaint in an earthly ear ; 

Her soul with its secret griefs went up, 
Beseeching her God that he would hear — 

Withdraw the bitter, or break the cup ! 

Her prayer was heard, and the sigh was stilled, 

As if in her breast it ne'er had been ! 
The tear, ere it sprang to her eye, was chilled ; 

And the lids forever had locked it in ! 



34 



I bent o'er her pale and breathless clay, 

As it shone in the light, like a frozen flower, 

That stands in the air of a winter's day, 

Ere a leaf has drooped at the sunbeam's power ! 

'Twas wrapped in a sweet and holy calm, 
That bade each shadow of grief depart ! 

The spirit had risen to breathe the balm, 
Which Gilead sheds for the pure in heart ! 



35 



A VOICE FROM MOUNT AUBURN. 

A voice from Mount Auburn ! a voice ! — and it said, 
• Ye have chosen me out as a home for your dead ; 
From the bustle of life ye have rendered me free; 
My earth ye have hallowed — henceforth I shall be 
A garden of graves, where your loved ones shall rest ! 
O, who will be first to repose on my breast ? 

" I now must be peopled from life's busy sphere ; 
Ye may roam, but the end of your journey is here. 
I shall call ! I shall call ! and the many will come 
From the heart of your crowds to so peaceful a home ; 
The great and the good, and the young and the old, 
In death's dreamless slumbers, my mansions will hold. 

u To me shall the child his loved parent resign ; 
And, mother, the babe at thy breast must be mine ! 
The brother and sister for me are to part, 
And the lover to break from each tie of the heart. 
I shall rival the bridegroom and take from his side, 
To sleep in my bosom, his beautiful bride. 

" And sweetly secure from all pain they shall lie 
Where the dews gently fall and the streams ripple by ; 
While the birds sing their hymns, amid air-harps, that 

sound # 

Through the boughs of the forest-trees whispering 

around. 

And flowers, bright as Eden's, at morning shall spread 
And at eve drop their leaves o'er the slumberer's bed ! 



36 



" But this is all earthly ! while thus ye enclose 
A spot where your ashes in peace may repose — 
Where the living may come and commune with the dead, 
With God and his soul, and with reverence tread 
On the sod, which he soon may be sleeping below, — 
Have ye chosen the home where the spirit shall go ? 

" Shall it dwell where the gardens of Paradise bloom, 
And flowers are not opening to die on the tomb ? 
With the song of an angel, a vesture of light, 
Shall it live in a world free from shadow and blight ; 
Where the waters are pure, from a fount never-sealed, 
And the secrets of heaven are in glory revealed ? 

" A day hastens on, — and an arm shall then break 
The bars of the tomb — the dread trump shall awake 
The dead from their sleep in the earth and the sea, 
And, i Render up thine !' shall be sounded to me ! 
Prepare for that hour, that my people may stand 
Unawed by the scene at the Judge's right hand !" 



37 



THE SOLDIER TO HIS PLUME. 

Before we go, I 've a word to say- 
To thee, my own white feather, 

And then, my plume, we're up and away 
To the battle-field together ! 

I charge thee never to show thy head 
Where the feet of a coward bore thee : 

Thou must sooner droop, as the blood is shed 

From the breast of him who wore thee. 

* 
Go up, and nod in the open van, 

With dangers gathering round thee ; 

That the foe may see 'tis the foremost man, 

Who in his helm has bound thee. 

'Mid the din of arms, where the dust and smoke 

In clouds are curling o'er thee, 
Be firm, till the enemy's ranks are broke, 

And they fall, or flee before thee. 

Yet, I would not have thee towering stand 
O'er him, who's for mercy crying ; 

But, bow to the earth, as thy master's hand 
Shall raise the faint and the dying. 

'Tis thus we both may escape from shame, 
And come from the field with glory ; 

And thou shalt be fixed to thy wearer's name. 
If ever 't is seen in story ! 



38 



MY OWN WILD BOWER. 

I stood in the halls where wealth and state 

Their glittering robes displayed — 
Vice, Vanity, Folly, Ambition and Hate 

Assembled in masquerade. 

From the trappings of fashion, the pomp of pride, 

The wiles and deceit of art, 
A child of nature, I turned aside, 

With a chilled and a sickening heart. 

I sighed to return to the hill and the glen, 

The scenes of my earliest hours — 
To breathe in my native air again, 

As it swept through the sweet wild flowers. 

I longed to recline on the violet bed, 
Close down by the murmuring stream, 

Where oft I have pillowed my infant head, 
And sunk in a blissful dream. 

Then, my moments of life were rapid and bright 

As the rivulet sparkling there ; 
And the hearts that surrounded me true as light, 

And pure as the woodland air. 

The velvet couch and the gilded hall, 

Gay visions of pomp and power, 
Art, fashion and show, I would give you all 

For a seat in my own wild bower ! 



39 



THE CORONATION. 

A grand coronation is near ! 

But who is to hallow the rite ? 
On whom is the crown to appear ? 

And who is to witness the sight ? 

That splendor no mortal must see, 
Nor join in a throng so august \ 

For all who are there will be free 

From sorrow, from stain and from dust ! 

The streets will have pavements of gold 
Which the glorious company tread ; 

The King will the diadem hold 
To place on his follower's head. 

For he, who so feeble and pale 
On the pillow of death lowly lies, 

Shall find that his path through the vale 
Leads out to a life in the skies. 

And when his pure forehead is crowned 
With light that is never to fade, 

The harps of the angels shall sound — 
The treasures above be displayed. 

The righteous has now but to die ; 

The soldier has finished his fight ; 
His grand coronation is nigh, 

But earth must not witness the sight. 



40 



THE DEPARTURE. 

See the sun at close cf day, 

Calmly gliding down the west; 
Mark the soft, expiring ray, 
Lingering, to denote the way 
Where he sinks to rest ! 

So, in peace, her spirit fled, 

Bright amid the shades of death ; 
And around her dying bed, 
Mild and heavenly radiance shed 
At the parting breath. 

When from earthly pain and grief, 
From the world's deceit and sin, 
Full of hope, she sought relief, 
Full of days, a golden sheaf, 
She was gathered in. 

She had fought the goodly fight ; 

She her Father's will had done ; 
Till her raven locks were white, 
Long, to wear a crown of light, 

She the race had run. 

Then, are sighs and tears for me ? 

Shall this aching heart repine, 
Mourning still, dear friend, for thee ? 
Or its better purpose be 

Life and death like thine ? 



41 



THE WEEPER. 

Saw ye the mourner reclining 
Where the damp earth was her bed, 

And the young ivy- vines, twining, 
Mantled the house of the dead ? 

Heard ye the voice of the weeper 

, Rise with the herald of day, 
Calling aloud to the sleeper, 
Bidding him hasten away ? 

Felt ye her wild notes of sorrow 
Thrilling your bosoms with pain ? 

Dark is the wanderer's morrow — 
So she must slumber again ! 

Dim is her glimmering taper ; 

Fast she is sinking to rest. 
Soon shall the evening vapor 

Gather unfelt, o'er her breast. 

Sorrow too long has been wearing 
String after string from her heart ; 

Now, her own finger is bearing 
On the last thread that can part ! 

Cold was the draught she has tasted ; 

Pale are the lips it has passed ; 
Now, every sand-grain is wasted ; 

Death has released her at last ! 
9 



42 

She, who so lately was weeping, 
Wounded, despairing and lost, 

At rest is now quietly sleeping ! 
Life's troubled waters are crossed ! 



43 



THE DYING EXILE. 

Who will stand, when I shall pillow 
In the earth this aching head, 

Pensive, by the drooping willow, 
O'er my cold and narrow bed ? 

There will be no tender mother, 
Aged sire, nor constant friend ; 

There will be no sister, brother, 
O'er my lonely grave to bend. 

Strangers then will heedless bear me 
Where the stranger's dust must lie ; 

Yet, the offering none will spare me 
Of a tear, while thus I die. 

They behold my life-strings sever 
At the conqueror's final blow ; 

But the heart that's breaking — never 
They its inward pangs shall know. 

Come, ye whispering airs of heaven, 
Take my sighs, my last adieu 

To the country whence I 'm driven, 
To the friends to whom I 'm true ! 

Let them know I 've ceased to languish ; 

Tell them I am freed from pain \ 

That my bosom swelled with anguish 

Till its chords all snapped in twain. 
10 



44 

Say, my last regrets were centred. 
All my fondness lingered there, 

Till upon a home I entered 
Free from banishment and care ; 

That my glad, unburdened spirit 

Soared triumphantly at last ; 
That, a country I inherit 

Worth all sighs and anguish past. 

Faith and hope, your strength is doubling ! 

Soon that home will be possessed, 
u Where the wicked cease from troubling, 

And the weary are at rest /" 



45 



THE STAR. 

Ever beaming, still I hang, 
Bright as when my birth I sang 

From chaotic night, 
In the boundless, azure dome 
Where I 've made my constant home, 
Till thousand, thousand years have come 

To sweep earth's things from sight ! 

Mortals, I unchanging view 
Every change that sports with you 

On your shadowy ball. 
All below my native skies, 
Here I mark how soon it dies ; 
How your proudest empires rise, 

Flourish, shake, and fall ! 

Wealth and splendor, pomp and pride, 
I 've beheld you laid aside ; 

Love and hate forgot ! 
Fame, ambition, glory, power, 
You I 've seen enjoy your hour ; 
Beauty, withering as a flower, 

While I altered not ! 

Him, whose sceptre swayed the world, 
I have seen aghast, and hurled 
From his lofty throne. 



46 

Monarch's form and vassal's clay 
Turned to dust and swept away : 
E'en to tell where once they lay, 
I am left alone ! 

When I 've been from age to age, 
Questioned by the lettered sage 

What a star might be, 
I 've answered not; for soon, I knew, 
He 'd have a clearer, nobler view, 
And look the world of mysteries through 

In vast eternity ! 

Mortals, since ye pass as dew, 
Seize the promise made for you 

Ere your day is o'er. 
The righteous, says a page divine, 
Are as the firmament to shine ; 
And like the stars, when I and mine 

Are quenched to beam no more ! 



47 



THE WOUNDED BIRD. 

Here 's the last food your poor mother can bring ! 

Take it, my suffering brood ! 
Oh ! they have stricken me under the wing ; 

See, it is dripping with blood ! 

Fair was the morn, and I wished them to rise 

And taste of its beauties with me ; 
The air was all fragrance, all splendor the skies ; 

And bright shone the earth and the sea. 

Little I thought, when so freely I went, 

Spending my earliest breath 
To wake them with song, it could be their intent 

To pay me with arrows and death ! 

Fear that my nestlings would feel them forgot 

Helped me, a moment, to fly ; 
Else, I had given up life on the spot, 

Under my murderer's eye. 

Feeble and faint, I have reached you, at length, 

Over the hill and the plain, 
Strewing my feathers, and losing my strength, 

Wounded and throbbing with pain ! 

Yet, I can never brood o'er you again, 

Closing you under my breast ! 
Its coldness would chill you; my blood would but stain 

And spoil the warm down in your nest. 



48 

Ere the night-coming, your mother will lie 

Motionless, under the tree — 
Helpless and silent, 1 still shall be nigh, 

While ye are moaning for me ! 



49 



TO THE SIAMESE TWINS. 

Mysterious tie by the Hand above, 

Which nothing below must part ! 
Thou visible image of faithful love, 

Firm union of heart and heart ; 
The mind to her utmost bound may run, 

And summon her light in vain 
To scan the twain that must still be one ; 

The one that will still be twain ! 

The beat of this bosom forbears to reach 

Where the other distinctly goes ; 
Yet, the stream that empurples the veins of each 

Through the breast of his brother flows ! 
One grief must be felt by this two-fold mark. 

As the points of a double dart ; 
And the joy lit up by a single spark 

Is sunshine in either heart. 

O wonder to baffle poor human skill 

In clay of the human mould ! 
But a greater mystery all must still, 

In the union of souls, behold. 
Ye are living harps, by your silken strings 

In a heavenly concord bound ; 
And who o'er one but a finger flings 

Awakens you both to sound. 



50 



But, what do you do when your slumbers come, 

When ye 've sweetly sunken to rest ? 
Do your spirits, side by side, fly home, 

Still linked, to your mother's breast? 
Did ye ever dream that your bond was broke ; 

That ye were asunder thrown ? 
And how did ye feel at the severing stroke, 

When each was forever alone ? 

No — ye would not think of yourselves apart, 

Even in fancy's wildest mood, 
For each would seem but a broken heart, 

And the world but a solitude ! 
Dear youths, may your lives be a flowery way, 

And, watched by your Maker's eye, 
May both, at the close, one call obey 

To shine as twin stars on high i 



51 



W 



WARNING FROM THE GOLD MINE. 

Ye who rend my bed of earth, 
Mark me ! from my lowly birth, 
Ye to light in me will bring 
What will rise to be your king ! 
I shall rule with tyrant sway, 
Till ye rue my natal day 
High and low my power shall own, 
For I '11 make the world my throne ! 

And my worshippers shall be 
Martyrs, dupes, or slaves to me. 
Love and friendship, on the way 
To their idol, they will slay. 
Conscience — I will still her cry ; 
Truth for me shall bleed and die ! 
I will prove a chain to bind 
Down to earth the immortal mind ! 

Though ye try me by the fire, 
This will only heat my ire. 
Though my form ye oft may change, 
'T will but give me wider range ! 
For my sake the poor shall feel 
On his face, his neighbor's heel. 
Then I '11 turn, and, taking wing, 
Leave with avarice but a sting ! 



52 

I will be a spur to crime, 

Ye shall sell your peace through time ; 

And a long eternity 

Of remorse shall come, for me ! 

Now I 'm here without defence ; 

But, if once I 'm taken hence, 

Man shall eat the bitter fruit 

Springing from a golden root ! 



53 



THE FROZEN DOVE. 

Away, from the path, silly dove, 
Where the foot, that may carelessly tread, 

Will crush thee ! — what! wilt thou not move ? 
Alas ! thou art stiffened and dead ! 

Allured by the brightness of day, 

To sink 'mid the shadows of night, 
Too far from the cote didst thou stray, 

And sadly has ended thy flight ! 

For here, with the snow at thy breast, 
With thy wings folded close to thy side, 

And crouched in the semblance of rest, 
Alone, of the cold thou hast died ! 

Poor bird ! thou hast pictured the fate 

Of many in life's changeful day, 
Who, trusting, have found but too late 

What smiles may be lit to betray. 

How oft for illusions that shine 

In a cold and a pitiless world, 
Benighted and palsied like thine, 

Has the wing of the spirit been furled ! 

And hearts the most tender and light 

In their warmth, to the earth have been thrown, 
'Mid the chills of adversity's night, 

To suffer, and perish alone ! 
11 



54 



THE DYING STORM. 

I am feeble, pale and weary, 

And my wings are nearly furled ! 
I have caused a scene so dreary, 

I am glad to quit the world ! 
With bitterness I 'm thinking 

On the evil I have done, 
And to my caverns sinking 

From the coming of the sun. 

The heart of man will sicken 

In that pure and holy light, 
When he feels the hopes I 've stricken 

With an everlasting blight ! 
For widely, in my madness, 

Have I poured abroad my wrath ; 
And, changing joy to sadness, 

Scattered ruin on my path. 

Earth shuddered at my motion, 

And my power in silence owns ; 
But the deep and troubled ocean 

O'er my deeds of horror moans ! 
I have sunk the brightest treasure ; 

I 've destroyed the fairest form : 
I have sadly filled my measure, 

And am now a dying storm ! 



55 



THE FLY'S REVENGE. 

" So," said a fly, as he paused and thought 

How he had just been brushed about, 
" They think, no doubt, I am next to nought — 

Put into life but to be put out ! 

" Just as if, when our Maker planned 
His mighty scheme, He had quite forgot 

To grant the work of his skilful hand, 
The peaceful fly, an abiding spot ! 

" They grudge me even a breath of air, 

A speck of earth and a ray of sun ! 
This is more than a fly can bear ; 

Now 1 11 pay them for what they 've done !" 

First he lit on the idle thumb 

Of a poet ; and " now for your thoughts !" said he, 
p Wherever they soar, I '11 make them come 

Down from their towering flight, to me!" 

He went and tickled the nasal tip 

Of a scholar, and over his eye-brow stung, 

Till he raised his hand, and his brain let slip 
A chain of gems, that had just been strung. 

Off to a crowded church he flew, 

And over the faces boldly stepped ; 
Pointing out to the pastor's view, 

How many sheep in the pasture slept. 



56 

He buzzed about at a lady's ear, 

Just as a youth, with piteous sigh, 
Popped the question she would not hear, 

But only answered, u a saucy fly /" 

He washed his feet in the worthless tear 
A belle at the theatre chanced to weep ; 

" Rouge in the bath !" he cried, " my dear, 
Your cheek has a blush that is not skin deep !" 

On the astronomer's pointed glass 
He leisurely stood and stretched his wing ; 

For here, he knew, he was sure to pass 
For quite a great and important thing. 

" Now is the time," said he, " my man, 
To measure the fly from head to heel ! 

Number the miles, and, if you can, 
Name the planets that I conceal. 

" What do you call the twinkling star 
Over the spot where you see me tread ; 

And the beautiful cluster of lights afar, 
Ranged in the heavens above my head ? 

" Ah ! it is station that swells us all, 

At once, to a size that were else unknown ! 

And now, if ever I hear you call 
My race an order beneath your own, 

I '11 tell the world of this comic scene ; 

And how will they laugh to hear that I, 
Small as you think me, can stand between 

You and your views of the spacious sky ! " 



57 



THE VOICE OF THE EAGLE. 

Lady, the fairest flowers the morn disclosed 

Are glowing on thy bosom ; while within, 

Thousands of clustering joys are still in bud; 

And thy fond heart has sweetly promised thee, 

Ere the bland violet shall hang its head, 

That they shall be full blown. Thy mild blue eye, 

With warm affection beaming, wistful looks 

Far o'er the treacherous deep, as calm it lies 

Beneath the splendor of a summer sky, 

And thou dost woo each billow sparkling there 

'o bring thy lover's bark safe back to shore. 
Yon shining thing, on the horizon hung, 
That trails its silver fringe along the waves, 
knd in the distance seems as sea or air 
Vfight either claim it, thou dost think the sail 
That is to waft him to thine arms again. 
3ut 'tis deceitful vapor — false as bright! 

'or this bold wing has swept the snowy cloud, 
\.nd found it melting, soon to pass away, 
ks pass the hopes that mock the human heart. 

O lady ! there 's a secret known to me ; 
To me alone — and when the fatal dart 
hall part the down upon the eagle's breast, 
To stain its whiteness with the crimson drops, 
T will never, never make my heart to ache 
\s thine, when thou the mournful tale shall hear, 
•"or thou must sicken — thou must droop and pine. 
12 



58 



Yea, fade and perish, like the tender flower, 
That thou hast severed from its parent stem, 
Ere he, whose life was root and stem to thine, 
Shall meet thee more. 

It was a stilly hour — 
You might have heard the tiny sparrow's flight ; 
For, not the coward poplar shook a leaf ; 
And I had soared to breathe in upper air, 
Leaving my nest beneath the tall lone pine, 
Whose strong root fastened in the craggy bound 
That limited the ocean. Suddenly 
It seemed some mighty, sable pinions, spread 
O'er yonder azure vault, which grew so dark, 
I thought 't was night, without or moon, or star, 
And hastened home to seek my callow brood. 
Then there were rushing, deep and awful sounds ; 
The pine was twisted, and its root uptorn. 
Frighted, I cowered, and pressed me 'gainst the shore, 
To make the fluttering of my bosom cease — 
There saw my tender nestlings headlong hurled 
Down, down the beetling cliff, amid the foam 
Which the mad waters dashed against the shore, 
Maddening the more that earth repelled their force. 
The wild and warring winds then onward whirled, 
The gloomy forest roared, and reeled, and fell. 
The quick, red lightning, with its fiery point, 
Engraved its path upon the yielding flint ; 
And, overhead, the chariot wheels of Power 
In blackness rolled across the frowning heavens, 
With noise, which seemed as that stupendous arch 



59 



Were rattling down, to crush the world beneath. 
Just then, a ship came struggling in the bay, 
With cables parted, bow and anchors lost — 
Her life-boat weltering in the distant surge ; 
Now she was tossed high up the mountain waves, 
Then into gaping watery caverns thrown — 
And when she struck the consummating rock, 
While she was parting, I beheld the crew, 
Trembling, with faces paler than the sheets 
Hung, rent and fluttering round them; but there 

beamed 

From every eye a fire so strangely bright, 
It seemed its radiance might have lasted lives. 
One fell despairing from the loosening shroud, 
Another wildly clasped the shivered mast ; 
And some, with hands upraised, as if they sought 
To meet an arm extended from on high, 
By which to hold them from their yawning graves, 
Were going to kneel. He who was last — 
The feeble lone one on the mighty deep, 
Clinging a moment to a floating beam, 
While his bright locks, that late so closely curled, 
All darkened, wet and heavy, fell apart, 
Leaving his smooth, white forehead, marble cold, 
Thrice, with his latest breath, called out thy name, 
As the black meeting billows closed him in. 



60 



THE YOUNG ARTIST.* 

Ay ! young dreamer, this is the hour 

For the tablet to glow by the pencil's power ! 

When the soul is pure, and warm, and new, 

And believes that the world, like itself, is true — 

When the sky is cloudless, the eye is bright, 

And gives to its objects its own clear light ; 

Now is the time, while the heart is single, 

For the painter's touch — for the hues to mingle ! 

Now the portions of light and shade 

Will on the delicate sketch be laid 

To stand indelibly, all between 

Life's gay morn and its closing scene ! 

Honors may bloom on thy future way ; 

And the rays of glory around thee play. 

But Fame's best laurels never will be 

So dear as thy sister's wreath to thee ! 

For, they will not set on a cloudless brow, 

And a silken curl, as we see them now ! 

Fame will her envied crown prepare 

For the whitening locks and the brow of care. 

Its clustering leaves will not be lit 

By the smile of a child, who has braided it ! 

* An engraving originally accompanied this poem, representing a boy seated on 
a flowery bank, with pencil and book, sketching from the natural objects around 
him. His little sister, who has playfully twined a wreath of budding flowers about 
his brow, sits beside him, looking into his sketch book. In the distance is seen an 
old and ivy-mantled castle, supposed to be the home of the children in the fore- 
ground. 



61 



As thy native castle, sublimely grand, 

A beautiful structure, thou may'st stand 

High and unmoved by the tempest's strife, 

The bolt and the blast of the storms of life. 

But should it be thus, there must come a day 

When thy house will shake, and its strength decay; 

When the light that will gild its crumbling towers 

Must be left by the sun of thy childish hours ! 

Then, may their memory, like the vine, 

Mantling over the ruin, twine, 

And, spreading a living vesture, climb 

To cover the rust and the tooth of time, 

And curtain with verdure the mouldering walls, 

Which shall not fade till the fabric falls ! 

Sister, gather the buds of Spring, 

All dewy and bright, as they 're opening ! 

Treasure them up from the frost and blight, 

For a lowering day and a starless night. 

And they will be fresh in thy bosom still 

When all without may be dark and chill. 

Another will seek to be crowned by thee 

Lord of thy heart and thy destiny ! 

Thou may'st bestow, in thy riper years, 

Laurels to water with daily tears. 

Then will memory love to come 

Through mist and shade, to thine early home, 

Within the halo that brightly beams 

Around the scene of thine infant dreams. 

Again thou wilt playfully sit, and look 

On the artless sketch of thy brother's book, 
13 



62 



And own no moment of earthly bliss 
So pure, so holy, and sweet as this ! 

Children, Time is a fleeting day, 
The brighter its scenes, the sooner away ! 
Look to the mansion, and seek the crown 
That shall not decay when the sun goes down ! 



63 



THE METEOR. 

Ye, who look with wondering eye, 
Tell me what in me ye find, 

As I shoot across the sky, 

But an emblem of your kind ! 

Darting from my hidden source, 
I behold no resting place ; 

But must ever urge my course 
Onward, till I end my race ! 

While I keep my native height, 

I appear to all below 
Radiant with celestial light, 

That is brightening as I go. 

When I lose my hold on heaven, 
Down to shadowy earth I tend, 

From my pure companions driven ; 
And in darkness I must end ! 



14 



64 



THE EMPALED BUTTERFLY. 

"Ho !" said a butterfly, " here am I, 

Up in the air, who used to lie 

Flat on the ground, for the passers by 

To treat with utter neglect! 
None will suspect that I am the same 
With a bright, new coat, and a different name ; 
The piece of nothingness whence I came, 

In me they '11 never detect. 

"That horrible night of the chrysalis, 
That brought me at length to a day like this, 
In the form of beauty — a state of bliss, 

Was little enough to give 
For freedom to range from bower to bower, 
To flirt with the buds and flatter the flower, 
And shine in the sunbeams hour by hour, 

The envy of all that live. 

" This is a world of curious things, 

Where those who crawl and those that have wings 

Are ranked in the classes of beggars and kings; 

No matter how much the worth 
May be on the side of those who creep, 
Where the vain, the light, and the bold will sweep 
Others from notice, and proudly keep 

Uppermost on the earth ! 



65 



" Many a one that has loathed the sight 
Of the piteous worm, will take delight 
In welcoming me, as I look so bright 

In my new and beautiful dress. 
But some I shall pass with a scornful glance, 
Some with elegant nonchalance, 
And others will woo me, till I advance 

To give them a slight caress." 

" Ha !" said the pin, " you are just the one 
Through which I 'm commissioned, at once, to run 
From back to breast, till, your fluttering done, 

Your form may be fairly shown. 
And when my point shall have reached your heart, 
5 T will be like a balm to the wounded part, 
To think how you will be copied by art, 

And your beauty will all be known ! " 



66 



THE BREAST-PIN. 

Come, thou dear, thou hallowed treasure, 
Make thy home upon my breast, 

Till my days have filled their measure, 
Till I, too, am gone to rest! 

Not because I love your glitter, 
Dazzling gold and sparkling stone, 

For your charms have dashed with bitter 
Life's whole fount for many a one. 

Not for these, bright gift, I 'm taking 
Thee to be my bosom friend ! 

'T is for thoughts that thou art waking, 
Memory, but at death to end ! 

That sweet face, so pale and altered, 

Painted here, can fancy see, 
Every fainting word that faltered 

On her lip, I read in thee. 

May thy sacred name be spoken 

Never to the mortal ear ! 
For, a dying sister's token , 

I baptize thee, with a tear ! 



67 



THE WINTER BURIAL. 

The deep-toned bell peals long and low 

On the keen, mid-winter air ; 
A sorrowing train moves sad and slow 

From the solemn place of prayer. 

The earth is in a winding sheet, 

And nature wrapped in gloom, 
Cold, cold the path which the mourners' feet 

Pursue to the waiting tomb ! 

They follow one, who calmly goes 

From her own loved mansion-door, 
Nor shrinks from the way through gathered snows, 

To return to her home no more. 

A sable line, to the drift-crowned hill 

The narrow pass they wind ; 
And here, where all is drear and chill, 

Their friend they leave behind. 

The silent grave they 're bending o'er, 

A long farewell to take ; 
One last, last look, and then, no more 

Till the dead shall all awake ! 



68 



THE ROBE. 

' T was not the robe of state, 
Which the high and the haughty wear, 
That my busy hand, as the lamp burnt late, 
Was hastening to prepare. 

It had no clasp of gold, 
No diamond's dazzling blaze 
For the festive board; nor the graceful fold 
To float in the dance's maze. 

' T was not to wrap the breast, 
"With gladness light and warm, 
For the bride's attire — for the joyous guest; 
Nor to clothe the sufferer's form. 

' T was not the garb of wo 
To conceal an aching heart, 
When our eyes with bitter tears o'erflow, 
And our dearest ones depart. 

' T was what we all must bear 
To the cold, the lonely bed ! 
' T was the spotless uniform they wear 
In the chambers of the dead ! 

I saw a fair, young maid 
In the snowy vesture drest ; 
So pure, she looked as one arrayed 
For the mansions of the blest. 



A smile had left its trace 
On her lip, at the parting breath, 
And the beauty in that lovely face 
Was fixed with the seal of death ! 



70 



THE CHOICE OF A PRIZE. 

Thou, who may'st not have fixed upon the prize 
For which on life's arena thou wilt strive, 
Come to the tomb, and, as its doors unfold 
To give admittance to the weary guests, 
Who fast are gathering at the destined goal, 
Cast in thy glance, and ask the inmates here 
What 's worth the winning ! 

Is it Beauty's palm 
That shall enkindle thy supreme desire ? 
' T is here a withered thing, thrown by, forgot ! 
On Beauty's features, see, her sister feeds 
Not with the better zest, that they were once 
Bright with the rose and lily, and the light 
Of an immortal spark ! 

Is Power thine aim ? 
The phantom ! how it vanishes from sight ! 
Here lies the head, that nodded kingdoms down ; 
The hand that moved, and nations felt the shock ! 
Bid them but lift themselves, and they will prove 
The date, the worth of power ! 

Does Pleasure hold 
Her sweet allurements out for thy pursuit ? 
Beware ! beware ! see on this new-cut stone 
The name of him who lived not half his days ! 
He swam in Pleasure's sea, and was ingulphed 
By giddy whirlpool, ere his sun had gained 
Its mid-day height ! 



71 



Hast thou a steady eye 
To Honor, Splendor, Glory, Fame, or Gold, 
As an attainment worth the toil of life, 
The mortal race ? 

The mighty leveller 
Admits of no distinction where he reigns, 
Save, 'twixt himself and those beneath his throne. 
Honor ! — Oh, how it dwindles into nought ! 
None shrinks aside to yield the highest place 
To him, who cometh where the sleepers are ! 
Splendor ! — The covering of the vassal's couch 
Is bright as his, whose fitful, guilty dream 
Was under silken drapery ! Lord and slave, 
In death's calm fellowship, sleep side by side. 
Glory ! — The damps and shadows of the grave 
Put out the brightest halo earth can light ! 
Fame ! — Can her trump delight this slumberer ; 
Or pour in sweetness to his heavy ear ? 
Her loudest blast is passing, empty air 
To him, who here retires to lay him down, 
Crushing the laurels he has proudly worn ! 
Gold ! — Is the miser clenching here the key 
To wealth, for which he sold the key of Heaven ? 
His gold is strewn, as dust upon the wind ? 
Though he, who bought it with eternal life, 
Hugged it until he felt his soul required, 
And earth, withdrawing, leave him to the waves 
That take the dross, which never shall consume ! 
Shall aught of these invite thee ? 

" Oh ! no ! no ! 
Beauty — may that of holiness be mine ! 



72 



May power be given me to o'ercome the world ! 

For pleasure, may I have a hand to pour 

The oil and wine upon another's wound ! 

For honor, may I bear my Savior's cross ; 

For splendor, light that from his follower beams ; 

And be my glory his approving smile. 

My fame, the world's reproaches for his sake ; 

My wealth, a conscience where no rust corrodes - 

One that may look into a coming world, 

As nature shall dissolve, and feel secure ! 

With these to aid me in the mortal strife, 

May I the palm of victory o'er the grave 

Make my immortal prize ! 



73 



THE LILY. 

[mperial beauty ! fair, unrivalled one ! 
What flower of earth has honor high as thine, — 
To find its name on His unsullied lips, 
Whose eye was light from heaven ? 

In vain the power 
Of human voice to swell the strain of praise 
Thou hast received ; and which will ever sound 
Long as the page of inspiration shines — 
While mortal songs shall die as summer winds 
That, wafting off thine odors, sink to sleep ! 
I will not praise thee, then ; but thou shalt be 
My hallowed flower ! The sweetest, purest thoughts 
Shall cluster round thee, as thy snowy bells 
On the green, polished stalk, that puts them forth ! 
I will consider thee, and melt my cares 
In the bland accents of His soothing voice, 
Who, from the hill of Palestine, looked round 
For a fair specimen of skill divine ; 
And, pointing out the Lily of the field, 
Declared, the wisest of all Israel's kings, 
In his full glory, not arrayed like thee ! 



15 



74 



MOUNT OLIVET. 

Thou sacred mount, on whose pale forehead now 

A desert quiet reigneth, ere the soul 

Goes up to sit in meditation there, 

She shall put off this world, with all its cares 

And fading glory, to commune alone 

With God, and with herself, on themes divine ! 

Thought, on swift wing, darts o'er the dubious waves 

Where things promiscuous, by three thousand years, 

Are swept together in one shadowy deep, 

And rests on Olivet ! 

She here beholds, 
Fleeing for refuge from a wicked son, 
And with a wounded spirit bowed to earth, 
The minstrel king, in bitter anguish come, 
Showering the mountain with a father's tears 
For his rebellious child ! 

But richer drops, 
From purer eyes, and by a mightier One, 
For thousands sunk in sin, have since been shed, 
Where David mourned the guilt of Absalom ! 
The King of kings stood here ; and looking down, 
Wept o'er Jerusalem ! Here, too, he led, 
From the last supper, when the hymn was sung, 
His few grieved followers out, in that drear night, 
When, in the garden, on the mountain's slope, 
His agony wrung forth the crimson drops ! 



75 



While these sad pictures, hung upon thy sides, 
Thou consecrated height, dissolve the heart 
[n pious sorrow ; yet thy brow is crowned 
With a bright, glorious scene ! 

Now, O my soul, 
On the blest summit light a holy flame ! 
From the last foot-print of the Prince of peace, 
The Conqueror of death, let incense rise, 
And enter heaven with thine ascending Lord ! 
Shake of the chains and all the dust of earth ! 
Go up and breathe in the sweet atmosphere 
His presence purified, as he arose ! 
Come ! from the Mount of Olives pluck thy branch, 
And bear it, like a dove, to yon bright ark 
Of rest and safety ! 



76 



THE MERMAID'S SONG. 

Come, mariner, down in the deep with me, 

And hide thee under the wave ; 
For I have a bed of coral for thee, 
And quiet and sound shall thy slumber be 

In a cell in the Mermaid's cave ! 

On a pillow of pearls thine eye shall sleep, 

And nothing disturb thee there. 
The fishes their silent vigils shall keep ; 
There shall be no grass thy grave to sweep, 

But the silk of the Mermaid's hair. 

And she, who is waiting with cheek so pale, 

As the tempest and the ocean roar, 
And weeps when she hears the menacing gale, 
Or sighs to behold her mariner's sail 
Come whitening up to the shore — 

She has not long to linger for thee ! 

Pier sorrows will soon be o'er ; 
For the cord shall be broken, the prisoner free ; 
Her eye shall close, and her dreams will be 

So sweet she will wake no more ! 



11 



THE CONSIGNMENT. 

Fire, my hand is on the key, 

And the cabinet must ope ! 
I shall now consign to thee, 

Things of grief, of joy, of hope. 
Treasured secrets of the heart 

To thy care I hence entrust : 
Not a word must thou impart, 

But reduce them all to dust. 

This — in childhood's rosy morn 

This was gaily filled and sent. 
Childhood is forever gone ; 

Here — devouring element. 
This was friendship's cherished pledge; 

Friendship took a colder form : 
Creeping on its gilded edge, 

May the blaze be bright and warm ! 

These — the letter and the token, 

Never more shall meet my view ! 
When the faith has once been broken, 

Let the memory perish too ! 
This — 't was penned while purest joy 

Warmed the heart and lit the eye : 
Fate that peace did soon destroy ; 

And its transcript now will I ! 
16 



78 

This must go ! for, on the seal 

When I broke the solemn yew, 
Keener was the pang than steel ; 

' T was a heart-string breaking too ! 
Here comes up the blotted leaf, 

Blistered o'er by many a tear. 
Hence ! thou waking shade of grief ! 

Go, forever disappear ! 

This is his, who seemed to be 

High as heaven, and fair as light ; 
But the visor rose, and he — 

Spare, O memory ! spare the sight 
•Of the face that frowned beneath, 

While I take it, hand and name, 
And entwine it with a wreath 

Of the purifying flame ! 

These — the hand is in the grave, 

And the soul is in the skies, 
Whence they came ! ' T is pain to save 

Cold remains of sundered ties ! 
Go together, all, and burn, 

Once the treasures of my heart! 
Still, my breast shall be an urn 

To preserve your better part ! 



79 



THE MUSICAL BOX. 

My little friend,'tis a stormy day, 

Bat we are left together ; 
I to listen, and thou to play ; 

So we '11 not heed the weather. 
The clouds may rise and the tempest come 

The winds and the rain may beat : 
With thee to gently play t Sweet Home,' 

I feel that home is sweet ! 

The yellow leaf, from the shivering tree, 

On Autumn's blast is flying ; 
But a spirit of life enshrined in thee, 

While all abroad is dying, 
Calls up the shadows of many a year 

With their joys that were bright as brief; 
And, if perchance it start the tear, 

' T is not the tear of grief. 

' Tis a hallowed offering of the soul, 

From her purest fountain gushing ; 
A warm, bright gift, that has spurned control, 

To the eye for freedom rushing ; 
As music's angel, hovering near 

To touch the tender key, 
The numbers of a higher sphere 

Is pouring forth from thee. 



80 

And while his powerful, magic hand 

O'er memory's chords is sweeping, 
To wake and bring from the spirit-land 

The things that else were sleeping — 
It lifts my thoughts to a world to come, 

Where those parted here shall meet, 
From the storms of life secure at home, 

And sing, that home is sweet !. 



81 



ADDRESS TO THE AUTOMATON 
CHESS PLAYER. 

Thou wondrous cause of speculation, 
Of deep research and cogitation 
Of many a head, and many a nation, 

While all in vain 
Have tried their wits to answer whether 
In silver, gold, steel, silk, or leather, 
Or human parts, or all together, 

Consists thy brain ! 

When first I viewed thine awful face, 
Rising above that ample case, 
Which gives thy cloven foot a place, 

Thy double shoe, 
* I marvelled whether I had seen 
Old Nick himself, or a machine, 
Or something fixed midway between 

The distant two ! 

A sudden shuddering seized my frame ; 

With feeling that defies a name, 

Of wonder, horror, doubt, and shame, 

The tout ensemble, 
I deemed thee formed with power and will ; 
My hair rose up — my blood stood still, 
And curdled with a fearful chill, 

Which made me tremble. 



82 

I thought if, e'en within thy glove, 
Thy cold and fleshless hand should move 
To rest on me, the touch would prove 

Far worse than death ; 
That I should be transformed, and see 
Thousands, and thousands gaze on me, 
A living, moving thing, like thee, 

Devoid of breath. 

When busy, curious, learned and wise 
Regard thee with inquiring eyes 
To find wherein thy mystery lies, 

On thy stiff neck, 
Turning thy head with grave precision, 
Their optic light and mental vision 
Alike defying, with decision, 

Thou giv'st them " check! " 

Some say a little man resides 
Between thy narrow, bony sides ; 
And round the world within thee rides : 

Absurd the notion ! 
For what 's the human thing 't would lurk 
In thine unfeeling breast, Sir Turk, 
Performing thus thine inward^work, 

And outward motion ? 

Some whisper that thou 'rt he, who fell 
From Heaven's high courts, down, down, to dwell 
In that deep place of sulphury smell 
And lurid flame . 



83 

Thy keeper then deserves a pension, 
For seeking out this wise invention 
To hold thee harmless, in detention, 
Close at thy game. 

Now, though all Europe has confessed, 
That in thy master Maelzel's breast 
Hidden, thy secret still must rest, 

Yet, 't were great pity, 
With all our intellectual light, 
That none should view thy nature right, 
But thou must leave in fog and night 

Our keen-eyed city. 

Then just confide in me, and show, 
Or tell, how things within thee go ! 
Speak in my ear so quick and low 

None else shall know it. 
But, mark me ! if I should discover 
Without thine aid, thy secret mover, 
With thee forever all is over, 

I '11 quickly blow it ! 



84 



THE EMPTY BIRD'S NEST. 

And thou j my sad, little, lonely nest, 
Hast oft been sought as the peaceful rest 
Of a weary wing and a guiltless breast ! 

But where is thy builder now ? 
And what has become of the helpless brood, 
For which the mother, with daily food, 
Came flitting so light, through the spicy wood, 

To her home on the waving bough ? 

The fowler, perhaps, has hurled the dart, 
Which the parent bird has received in her heart ; 
And her tender orphans are scattered apart, 

So wide, they never again 
In thy warm, soft cell of love can meet, 
And thou hast been filled with the snow and the sleet, 
By the hail and the winds have thy sides been beat, 

And drenched by the pitiless rain. 

Though great was the toil which thy building cost, 
With thy fibres so neatly coiled and crossed, 
And thy lining of down, thou art lorn and lost, 

A ruin beyond repair ! 
So I '11 take thee down, as I would not see 
Such a sorrowful sight on the gay green tree ; 
And when I have torn thee, thy parts shall be 

Like thy tenants, dispersed in air. 



85 



Thou hast made me to think of each heart- woven tie ; 
)f the child's first home, and of her, whose eye 
hatched fondly o'er those, who were reared to die 

Where the grave of a distant shore 
leceived to its bosom the strangers' clay ; 
for when, as thy birds, they had passed away, 
' T was not to return, and the mother and they 

In time were to meet no more ! 



86 



THE SOUL'S FAREWELL. 

It must be so, poor, fading, mortal thing ! 

And now we part, thou pallid form of clay; 
Thy hold is broke — I can unfurl my wing ; 

And from the dust the spirit must away ! 

As thou at night, hast thrown thy vesture by, 
Tired with the day, to seek thy wonted rest, 

Fatigued with time's vain round, 'tis thus that I 
Of thee, frail covering, myself divest. 

Thou know'st, while journeying in this thorny road, 
How oft we 've sighed and struggled to be twain ; 

How I have longed to drop my earthly load, 
And thou, to rest thee from thy toil and pain. 

Then he, who severs our mysterious tie, 
Is a kind angel, granting each release ; 

He '11 seal thy quivering lip and sunken eye, 
And stamp thy brow with everlasting peace. 

When thou hast lost the beauty that I gave, 

And life's gay scenes no more will give thee place, 

Thou may'st retire within the secret grave, 
Where none shall look upon thine altered face. 

But I am summoned to the eternal throne, 
To meet the presence of the King most high ; 

I go to stand, unshrouded and alone, 

Full in the light of God's all-searching eye. 



87 



There must the deeds, which we together wrought, 
Be all remembered — each a witness made ; 

The outward action and the secret thought 
Before the silent soul must there be weighed. 

Lo ! I behold the seraph throng descend 
To waft me up where love and mercy dwell ! 

Away, vain fears ! the Judge will be my friend ; 
It is my Father calls — pale clay, farewell ! 



88 



THE- PLAYTHINGS. 

Oh ! mother, here 's the very top, 

That brother used to spin ; 
The vase with seeds I 've seen him drop 

To call our robin in ; 
The line that held his pretty kite, 

His bow, his cup and ball, 
The slate on which he learned to write, 

His feather, cap, and all ! 

" My dear, I 'd put the things away 

Just where they were before : 
Go, Anna, take him oat to play, 

And shut the closet door. 
Sweet innocent ! he little thinks 

The slightest thought expressed, 
Of him that 's lost, too deeply sinks 

Within a mother's breast!" 



89 



THE MANIAC. 

The careless eye, and the piteous one 
Poor lost Maria alike will shun. 
She loves to roam with her fearless child 
O'er the flowery field and the lonely wild ; 
To list, in a bower of tangled vines, 
As the wind comes rustling through the pines ; 
To mark the light skip of the timid hare, 
And to watch the bee on her path of air ; 
The crumbled nut to the ant to fling, 
And to take the fly from his deadly swing. 
She sits at eve, by the echoing hill 
To mock the voice of the whip-poor-will. 
At times she will climb to some craggy steep, 
Will look at her babe, and then to the deep ; 
As she swings her foot on the fearful height, 
Like a bird of the ocean poised for flight. 
Then, she calls for a shroud to wrap the dead ; 
And her voice comes low, as a prayer were said. 
Then, mournful and sweet, as for one who slumbers 
To wake no more, flow her dirge-like numbers. 
She sings of the flowers that are fair and new, 
Which the morning light or the evening dew 
Has touched but once, that are meet to spread 
O'er the grave where beauty has made its bed. 
But, most she loves, in the pensive night, 
When the air is still, and the moon is bright, 
To gaze on her sleeping infant's face, 
And the one loved image there to trace. 
18 



90 



Yet, when the cherished illusion breaks, 
When fancy's vision its farewell takes, 
And flies, as the thing of a blissful dream, 
Her eye will wander across the stream, 
And the big tear stand on her cold pale cheek ; 
But the name, she never is heard to speak. 

Her sorrow was that which none must hear — 

Too sacred and deep for an earthly ear ; 

' T was such, when its waves in the bosom swell, 

As we to no friend, but our God, can tell. 

Like the stricken bird, that will feebly fly 

To the nearest covert, alone to die, 

She hid the arrow that pierced her breast, 

And the wound that had robbed her soul of rest. 

For they came from him to whom alone 

Her love was pledged at her Maker's throne. 

She had tried to smile till her lip was white, 

And her eye with weeping had quenched its light ; 

Till the clouds of care her brow had shaded, 

Her cheek was sunk, and its rose had faded. 

From the joys of life in its morning torn, 

The hapless maniac, dark and lorn, 

With the future a void — a waste the past, 

And the present a dream, on the world was cast. 

The faithless she never again may meet 

Till they both shall stand at the judgment seat ! 



91 



NATIVE ATTACHMENT. 

Though year after year has rolled on to the deep, 
Where their sorrows and joys in oblivion sleep, 
Since my eye fondly lingered to look an adieu, 
As the home of my childhood was fading from view, 
Not a flower nor a vine round my loved native cot, 
Through time's ceaseless changes, has e'er been forgot. 

The song of the robin that sang on the bough 
Of the neighboring pine, is as dear to me now; , 

The brook looks as clear to my memory's eye, 
And the verdure as fresh on the banks it played by ; 
The lamb bounds as joyous and light o'er the glade, 
As when 'mid those scenes I in infancy strayed. 

And oft my dark hours of their cares are beguiled, 
As fancy's bright wand turns me back to the child 
That followed the flight of the butterfly's wing, 
And plucked the red berries that danced ere the spring . 
Or reached for the fair purple cluster, that hung 
Where round the bowed alder the wild tendril clung. 

The splendor of cities, the polish of art 

May seek my devotion, and sue for my heart ; 

But, no fount of delight on life's landscape will gush 

Like that, which leapt down by the violet and rush j 

No notes come so sweet as the song of the bird, 

Which the ear of the child from the coppice first heard. 



92 



I find not a gem in my pathway so bright 
As the fire-fly, pursued by my young feet at night. ■ 
Earth offers no flowers like the wild ones I wreathed ; 
No breeze comes from heaven like the air I first breathed. 
No spot seems so pure in the wide vault on high, 
As that which sent down the first light to my eye ! 



93 



THE SLAVE MOTHER'S PRATER. 

Thou, who hear'st the feeblest prayer, 
The humblest heart dost see, 

Upon the chilly midnight air 
I pour my soul to thee ! 

1 bend a form with ceaseless toil 
Consuming all the day ; 

And raise an eye that wets the soil, 
As wears my life away. 

I lift a hand that's only freed 

Until to-nfbrrow's task ; 
But how, O God, does nature bleed 
Upon the boon I ask ! 

How wretched must that mother be, 

(And I 'm the hapless one,) 
Who begs an early grave of thee, 

To shield her only son ! 

I would not that my boy were spared 

To curse his natal hour ; 
To drag the chains his birth prepared 

Beneath unfeeling power. 

Then, ere the nursling at my breast 

Shall feel the tyrant's rod, 
O lay his little form at rest 

Beneath the quiet sod ! 
19 



94 

And when before thine awful throne 

My master shall appear, 
A naked spirit, to atone 

For all his dealings here ; 

If pardoning grace can be bestowed, 

And Heaven has pity then, 
For him, who here no pity showed 

Towards his fellow-men, 

Thou 'It spare him, in thy mercy, Lord, 
The sinner's fearful doom — 

The wages, for his just reward, 
Of death beyond the tomb. 



95 



THE LITTLE BOY TO THE CRICKET. 

I have thee now ! my brisk new-comer, 
Sounding thy lay to departing Summer ; 
And I '11 take thee up from thy bed of grass, 
And carry thee home to a house of glass ; 
Where thy slender limbs and the faded green 
Of thy close-made coat can all be seen. 
For I long to know if the cricket sings, 
Or plays the tune with his gauzy wings ; 
To bring that shrill-toned pipe to light, 
Which kept me awake so long, last night, 
That I told the hours by the lazy clock, 
Till I heard the crow of the noisy cock ; 
When, tossing and turning, at length I fell 
To a sleep so strange, that the dream I ' 11 tell. 

Methought, on a flowery bank I lay, 
By a beautiful stream ; and watched the play 
Of the sparkling waters, that fled so fast, 
I could not count the waves that passed. 
But I marked the things they were carrying by ; 
And a neat, little skiff first caught my eye. 
'T was woven of reeds, and its sides were bound 
By a tender vine, that had clasped it round ; 
And spreading within, had made it seem 
A basket of leaves, borne down by the stream : 
And the skiff had neither sail nor oar ; 
But a bright little boy stood up, and bore, 
On his out-stretched hands, a wreath so gay, 
It looked like a crown for the queen of May. 



96 



And while he was going, I heard him sing, 
" Sieze the garland of passing Spring ! " 
But I dared not reach — for the bank was steep ; 
And he bore it away to the far-off deep ! 

Then came a lady — her eye was bright — 
She was young and fair ; and her baik was light. 
Its mast was a living tree, that spread 
Its boughs for a sail, o'er the lady's head; 
And some of the fruits had just begun 
To flush, on the side that was next the sun ; 
And some with the crimson streak were stained, 
While others their size had not yet gained. 
She said, as she passed — " Oh ! who can insure 
The fruits of Summer to get mature ? 
For, fast as the waters beneath me, flowing, 
Beyond recall, I 'm going ! I 'm going ! " 

I turned my eye, and beheld another, 
That seemed as she might be Summer's mother. 
She looked more grave ; and her cheek was tinged 
With a deeper brown ; her bark was fringed 
With the tasseled heads of the wheaten sheaves 
Along its sides — and the yellow leaves, 
That covered the deck, concealed a throng 
Of crickets, — I knew by their choral song. 
At Autumn's feet lay the golden corn, 
And her hands were raised to invert a horn, 
That was filled with a sweet and mellow store, 
And the purple clusters were hanging o'er. 
She bade me seize on the fruit, that should last, 
When the harvest was gone, and Autumn had past ! 



97 



Bat, when I had paused to make the choice, 

I saw no bark ! and I heard no voice ! 

Then, I looked on a sight that chilled my blood ; 
| T was a mass of ice, where an old man stood 
On his frozen raft ; while his shriveled hand 
Had clinched, as a staff by which to stand, 
A whitened branch that the blast had broke 
From the lifeless trunk of an aged oak. 
The icicles hung from the naked limb, 
And the old man's eye was sunk and dim. 
But his scattering locks were silver bright, 
And his beard with the gathering frost was white. 
The tears congealed on his furrowed cheek, 
His garb was thin, and the winds were bleak. 
He faintly uttered, while drawing near, 

II Winter, the death of the short-lived year, 
Can yield thee nought, as I downward tend 
To the boundless sea, where the seasons end. 
But I trust from others, who 've gone before, 
Thou 'st clothed thy form, and supplied thy store ; 
And now, what tidings am I to bear 

Gf thee, — for I shall be questioned there ? " 
I asked Mamma, as she o'er me bent, 

What all this show of the seasons meant ? 

She said 't was a picture of life, I saw ; 

And the useful moral myself must draw ! 

I awoke — and found that thy song was stilled, 

And the sun with his beams my room had filled ! 

But I think, my cricket, I long shall keep 

In mind, the dream of my morning sleep ! 

20 



98 



THE MIDNIGHT MAIL. 

' T is midnight — all is peace profound ! 
But lo ! upon the murmuring ground, 
The lonely, swelling, hurrying sound 

Of distant wheels is heard ! 
They come — they pause a moment — when, 
There charge resigned, they start, and then 
Are gone, and all is hushed again, 

As not a leaf had stirred. 

Hast thou a parent far away, 
A beauteous child to be thy stay 
In life's decline — or sisters, they 

Who shared thine infant glee ? 
A brother on a foreign shore ? 
Is he whose breast thy token bore, 
Or are thy treasures wandering o'er 

A wide tumultuous sea ? 

If aught like these, then thou must feel 
The rattling of that reckless wheel, 
That brings the bright, or boding seal, 

On every trembling thread, 
That strings thy heart, till morn appears 
To crown thy hopes, or end thy fears ; 
To light the smile, or draw thy tears, 

As line on line is read. 



99 

Perhaps thy treasure 's in the deep, 

Thy lover in a dreamless sleep, 

Thy brother where thou canst not weep 

Upon his distant grave ! 
Thy parent's hoary head no more 
May shed a silver luster o'er 
His children grouped — nor death restore 

Thy son from out the wave ! 

Thy prattler's tongue, perhaps, is stilled, 

Thy sister's lip is pale and chilled, 

Thy blooming bride, perchance, has filled 

Her corner of the tomb. 
May be, the home where all thy sweet 
And tender recollections meet, 
Has shown its flaming winding sheet, 

In midnight's awful gloom ! 

And while, alternate, o'er my soul 
Those cold or burning wheels will roll 
Their chill or heat, beyond control, 

Till morn shall bring relief, 
( Father in heaven, whate'er may be 
The cup, which thou hast sent for me, 
I know 't is good, prepared by Thee, 

Though filled with joy or grief. 



21 



100 



A VOICE FROM THE WINE PRESS. 

' T was for this they reared the vine, 

Fostered every leaf and shoot, 
Loved to see its tendrils twine, 

And cherished it from branch to root ! 
' T was for this, that from the blast 

It was screened and taught to run, 
That its fruit might ripen fast, 

O'er the trellis, to the sun. 

And for this they rudely tore 

Every cluster from the stem ; 
' T was to crush us till we pour 

Out our very blood for them ! 
Well, though we are tortured thus, 

Still our essence shall endure, 
Vengeance they shall find, with us, 

May be slow, but will be sure. 

And the longer we are pent 

From the air and cheering light, 
Greater, when they give us vent. 

For our rest shall be our might. 
And our spirits, they shall see, 

Can assume a thousand shapes ; 
These are words of verity, 

Uttered by the dying grapes. 



101 

Many a stately form shall reel, 

When our power is felt within ; 
Many a foolish tongue reveal 

What the recent draught has been; 
Many a thoughtless, yielding youth, 

With his promise all in bloom, 
Go from paths of peace and truth 

To an early, shameful tomb. 

We the purse will oft unclasp, 

All its golden treasure take, 
And, the husband in our grasp, 

Leave the wife with heart to break. 
While his babes are pinched with cold, 

We will bind him to the bowl, 
Till his features we behold 

Glowing like a living coal. 

We will bid the gown-man put 

To his lip a glass or two, 
Then, we '11 stab him in the foot, 

Till it oversteps the shoe. 
And we '11 swell the doctor's bill, 

While he parries us in vain ; 
He may cure, but we will kill 

Till our thousands we have slain. 

When we 've drowned their peace and health, 
Strength and hopes within the bowl, 

More we '11 ask than life or wealth, 
We '11 require the very soul! 






102 

Ye, who from our blood are free, 
Take the charge we give you now; 

Taste not, till ye wait and see 
If the grapes forget their vow. 



103 



TO MY WATCH. 

Say, what busy tenant inhabits thy breast, 

Affording thy hands not a moment of rest, 

While prompting thy voice to the ceaseless Hick, tick/ 

As if thou wert ever repeating ' quick, quick,' 

And gives thee no time, while thy work thus pursuing, 

To tell what so quick must be done, or is doing? 

u The same little genius so busy with me 
Is he, who is constantly watching by thee ; 
Whose task was assigned at thine earliest breath, 
Thy minutes to count, till he leaves thee in death. 
Art thou busy or idle, awake or in slumber, 
He still keeps his vigils, still adds to the number. 

1 I pause not to name thee thy work, it is true, 
For I know not/ the things thou may 'st yet have to do, 
But the watch-word I give is to make thee take heed 
How time ever flies, and how matchless its speed : 
Thou may'st read in my face how thy minutes are 

wasting, 
And thou to that bourne, where 's thy end, art still 

hasting. 

u For my diligent hands no repose will I ask : 
They, ever employed, just accomplish their task 3 
Yet, I know they will rest, when to motionless clay 
That hand shall be changed that hath wound me to-day ; 



104 

For my pulse will be stopped, and my voice cease re- 
peating 
My one, only word, when thy heart stills its beating. 

" When low in the earth my loved mistress shall sleep, 
Thy watch will be given to another to keep, 
I shall rouse from my slumbers my work to resume, 
While, silent and cold, lies thy dust in the tomb, 
Far from time and from me, when thy spirit is proving 
What here it performed, while my finger was moving." 



105 



THOUGHTS. 

Eyes, say, why were ye given your sight, 

Your full blue orbs, with their roll and their light, 

Which your lids of the lily with violet tinge 

So often of late, with their long, dark fringe 

From their folds in your arches descended to shade ? 

Ye have told many things — but not why ye were made. 

We were made to delight in the beauties of earth : 
Then to see how they perished, how little their worth : 
They are changing, illusive, uncertain, and brief, 
From the flower's opening bud to its soon withered leaf. 
The birth of their being is joined to decay ; 
They flourish, allure, and expire in a day. 
On things like ourselves with delight we have shone ; 
We have studied their language and found it our own : 
But the offspring of grief would extinguish their light, 
And the spoiler's pale hand lock them up from our sight, 
Or, keener, far keener, they 'd let us behold 
Their looks turning from us, unfeeling and cold. 
Bequeathing this line, as we saw them depart, 
M We go not alone, but are drawn by the heart !" 
For things such as these, and still more were we made ; 
For watching, for aching, to sink and to fade : 
To pour forth in silence the waters of sorrow, 
Then, to close in a night that will bring us no morrow ? 

And wherefore where you, ye thick locks that were 
laid 
In the clustering curls, or the bright sunny braid ? 



106 

To shine in our pride o'er the temples awhile, 
Arresting the eye, and affecting the smile ; 
Then, loose, unadorned, and neglected, to go, 
While the dark clouds of care shed among us their snow, 
To be screened from life's storms by the marble and 

willow, 
And to rest, thinned and damp, on a cold earthy pillow. 

Ye withering roses that bloomed on the cheek, 

Say, what was your purpose ? and what do ye speak ? 

Our errand was short — we 've accomplished our duty, 
And shown you how vain, and how fleeting is beauty ! 

And thou, wasting form, once so buoyant and free, 
So fair, and so flexile, come, say, what of thee ? 

Like the insect that sports out its warm summer's 
day, 
Or the atom that floats on the bright solar ray, 
I have shone 'mid the glitter of fashion and pleasure ; 
I have flitted my hour, and have filled up my measure. 
I have borne the bright chaplet, the silk's graceful fold ; 
Have decked myself out in rich fossils and gold ; 
Gay colors have clothed me, I 've worn the light plume 
To enliven my path to the verge of the tomb. 
Yet I knew all the while, I was transient and frail; 
I felt myself sinking, my energy fail. 
I knew that the canker was trying his power, 
That his tooth had begun at the heart of the flower, 
That, true to his purpose, he 'd finish my fall 
To the final abode, the asylum of all. 



107 

If such be the end of each perishing- part, 
Immortal, invisible, tell what thou art; 
Thy business, and what thou dost hope to inherit, 
Thou restless, aspiring, unsatisfied Spirit! 

What my nature may be, there is none that can 
know, 
But the Being above to whose presence I go. 
But I 've dwelt on this earth, and its joy s have embraced, 
' Till I 've found myself wounded, deceived, and dis- 
graced. 
Its flowers, when I touched them, would wither and fall ; 
I tasted its cup, but 't was mingled with gall. 
Allured to its landscape, the serpent or snare 
I found was concealed, and awaited me there ; 
That the rainbow hung o'er it, so bright to my eyes, 
At best, was but vapor, or tears in disguise. 
I have leant on this world, 'till with anguish I feel 
It is harder, and colder, and keener than steel. 
Only constant to change, and to falsehood but true, 
It stabs while it kisses, and smiles to undo. 
But for me the deceit of its visions are o'er ; 
i They shall wound and enslave and ensnare me no more : 
For faint, torn, and bleeding, I turn from the earth, 
And look up in faith to the realm of my birth : 
I know there 's a sun with a glorious light, 
With beams full of healing, to burst on my sight, 
Dispelling the shadows of sorrow and care ; 
I know that a balm, a Physician is there. 
That country, that home, the unsatisfied spirit 
Here sighs to regain, and hopes to inherit. 



108 



THE ZEPHYR'S SOLILOQUY. 

Though from whence I came, or whither I go, 
My end or my nature I ne'er may know, 
I will number o'er to myself a few 
Of the countless things I am born to do. 

I flit, in the days of the joyous Spring, 

Through field and forest, and I freight my wing 

With the spice of the buds, which I haste to bear 

Where I know that man will inhale the air. 

And, while I hover o'er beauty's lip, 

I part her locks with my pinion's tip ; 

Or brighten her cheek with my fond caress, 

And breathe in the folds of her lightsome dress. 

I love to sport with the silken curl 

On the lily neck of the laughing girl ; 

To dry the tear of the weeping boy, 

Who 's breaking his heart for a broken toy ; 

To fan the heat of his brow away, 

And over his mother's harp-strings play, 

Till, his griefs forgotten, he looks around 

For the secret hand that has waked the sound. 

I love, when the warrior mails his breast, 

To toss the head of his snow-white crest; 

To take the adieu that he turns to leave, 

And the sigh that his lady retires to heave ! 

When the sultry sun of a summer s day 

Each sparkling dew-drop has dried away, 



109 

And the flowers are left to thirst to death, 
I love to come and afford them breath ; 
And, under each languid, drooping thing 
J To place my balmy and cooling wing. 
When the bright, fresh showers have just gone by, 
And the rainbow stands in the evening sky, 
Oh ! then is the merriest time for me ; 
And I and my race have a jubilee ! 
We fly to the gardens and shake the drops 
From the bending boughs, and the floweret tops ; 
And revel unseen in the calm starlight, 
Or dance on the moon-beams the live-long night. 
These, ah ! these are my hours of gladness ! 
But, I have my days and my nights of sadness ! 

When I go to the cheek where I kissed the rose, 
And 't is turning as white as the mountain snows ; 
While the eye of beauty must soon be hid 
Forever, beneath its sinking lid — 
Oh ! I 'd give my whole self but to spare that gasp, 
And save her a moment from death's cold grasp ! 
And when she is borne to repose alone 
' Neath the fresh-cut sod and the church-yard stone, 
I keep close by her, and do my best 
To lift the dark pall from the sleeper's breast ; 
And linger behind with the beautiful clay, 
When friends and kindred have gone their way ! 
When the babe whose dimples I used to fan, 
I see completing its earthly span, 
I long, with a spirit so pure, to go 
From the scene of sorrow and tears below, 
22 



110 

Till I rise so high I can catch the song 

Of welcome, that bursts from the angel throng, 

As it enters its rest — but, alas ! alas ! 

I am only from death to death to pass. 

I hasten away over mountain and flood, 

And find I 'm alone on a field of blood. 

The soldier is there — but he breathes no more ; 

And there is the plume, but 't is stained with gore 

I flutter and strive in vain, to place 

The end of his scarf o'er his marble face ; 

And find not even a sigh, to take 

To her, whose heart is so soon to break ! 

I fly to the flowers that I loved so much — 

They are pale, and drop at my slightest touch. 

The earth is in ruins ! 1 turn to the sky — 

It frowns ! and what can I do, but die ? 



Ill 



FOREST MUSIC. 

There 's a sad loneliness about my heart, — 
A deep, deep solitude the spirit feels 
Amid this multitude. The things of art 
Pall on the senses — from its pageantry, 
Loathing, my eye turns off; and my ear shrinks 
From the harsh dissonance that fills the air. 

My soul is growing sick — I will away 

And gather balm from a sweet forest walk ! 

There, as the breezes through the branches sweep, 

Is heard aerial minstrelsy, like harps 

Untouched, unseen, that on the spirit's ear 

Pour out their numbers till they lull to peace 

The tumult of the bosom. There 's a voice 

Of music in the rustling of the leaves; 

And the green boughs are hung with living lutes, 

Whose strings will only vibrate to his hand 

Who made them, while they sound his untaught praise ! 

The whole wild wood is one vast instrument 
Of thousand, thousand keys ; and all its notes 
Come in sweet harmony, while Nature plays 
To celebrate the presence of her God ! 



uf 

THE PROSTRATE PINK. 

Alas ! alas ! a silly Pink, 

To climb so fast, and never think 

How feeble was my trust ! 
I sought a high and airy throne ; 
Aspired too far to stand alone ; 
And now, in lowliness, must own 

My kindred with the dust ! 

O, would my stem had snapped in twain, 
And saved me from the lingering pain 

Of being thus abased ! 
1 T is worse than death to lie so low, 
While all the laughing flowers know, 
Ambition caused my overthrow, 

And brought me here disgraced ! 

My native spot is far behind ! 
Nor can I turn and hope to find 

Again my parent root, 
Where, fain my blushing head I 'd screen 
Among the leaves so thick and green, 
Whence I, a timid bud, was seen 

In infancy to shoot. 

My beauteous form and hue, so bright, 
I thought could tempest, hail and blight 

And insect's touch defy. 
I grew in boldness — meekness fled ; 
I burst my cup, my odors shed 
With lavish haste ; my petals spread, 

And courted every eye. 



113 

I little knew how great the fault 
Myself to flatter and exalt, 

Until I found, too late, 
My head grew giddy with the height ; 
The sun-beam seemed a whirling light ; 
I lost my balance — lost my sight; 

And here I met my fate. 

My sister Flowers, take heed ! take heed ! 
Your loveliness will ever need 

Protection from the blast. 
Be cautious what your beauties court, 
Whereon you venture, how you sport; 
And if a straw is your support, 

See where you may be cast. 

Your charms are highest half-concealed ; 
Your sweets are dearest, when revealed 

With modesty and fear ; 
And she, who quits the leafy shade 
That nature for her shelter made, 
May pine and languish, moan and fade, 

Like her who sorrows here. 



23 



114 

THE BENEFACTOR. 

Unsullied by time, and undimmed by a tear, 
But fresh, on the wing of the new-born year, 
I come, a pure and a holy thing ; 
And to all, who receive me, some gift I bring. 

For childhoodj amused with its stories and toys, 
I 've a lasting supply of those innocent joys; 
And a breastplate of truth, that I '11 place o'er its heart, 
To keep it unspotted from falsehood and art. 

I give to the youth, as his hopes are full-blown, 
Those hopes undeceived till their fruits are full-grown ; 
In the landscape of life, that before him is spread, 
I will leave not a thorn, where I know he must tread. 

I grant to the young and the beautiful maid 
A form ne'er to wither — a cheek ne'er to fade — 
A heart not to grieve that the lip oft may smile, 
And treachery lurk in the bosom the while ! 

I give to the aged, to whom life must seem, 
As 't is past in review, like a short, busy dream, 
The peace undisturbed which may spring from the trust, 
That, beyond time and earth, they shall live with the 
just. 

For you, who are treading the gay, giddy round 
Of fashion and folly, for you I have found 
A far nobler work for your life's fleeting day ; 
And I give to you wisdom to shine on your way. 






115 



To the prisoner, immured in the dark, starless night 
Of a dungeon, I give heaven's pure air and light ; 
And the power, tho' his hands may be crimson with guilt, 
To wash themselves white from the blood they have spilt. 

1 give to the exile, who 's destined to roam 

From parent, from brother and sister and home, 

A welcome from him, who, those treasures possessing, 

Shall find himself blest in bestowing the blessing. 

For the poor I 've a shelter from cold and from storm ; 
I 've bread for his mouth, and a garb for his form : 
But chiefly, a spirit to soar from the dust 
To a treasure on high, safe from moth and from rust. 

To the rich, for their deeds as a final reward, 
I will leave but the look and the word of their Lord : 
May they hear, with a smile from their Master divine, 
1 Ye have done unto me what ye did unto mine !' 

Thus, for high, and for low, for the young and the old, 
For the wise and the foolish I 've treasures untold : 

And Wish is my name but ye never must hear 

What bosom I sprang from to hail the New Year ! 



24 



116 



THE NEW TOMB.* 

They ' ve finished the darksome abode, 

Of silence, of death, and of dust! 
And who, of the train that are thronging the road 

To this mansion, shall enter it first ? 

It is not the silvery head, 

That here shall be first to repose ; 
Nor the babe, that shall come to the house of the dead, 

Ere the bud of its life can unclose. 

But mark him, whose cheek is so bright 

With the freshness of beauty and youth — 
Whose step is so firm, and whose bosom so light 
With the glow of affection and truth ! 

Ere care has o'ershadowed his brow, 

With the roses of health all in bloom, 
From the many, who love him, he comes even now ; 

For he is the first for the tomb ! 

And shall he, who could carry the charm 

Of joy wheresoe'er he was known — 
Shall he, with affections, so kindly and warm, 

Come down and repose here alone ? 

Oh ! no — from the sorrowing train 

There hastens a beautiful maid — 
Ere the moon shall be full in her lustre again, 

Her form by his side will be laid ! 

* These lines were occasioned by an event which took place in Boston a few 
months since. 



117 

The kindred in blood, far from sight, 

Together shall slumber in peace ; 
The kindred in spirit their voices unite 

In praises, that never shall cease. 

They would not their friends should bewail 
Their absence from scenes they have trod ! 

They beckon the mourner to look through the veil, 
Where they shine with the brightness of God ! 



118 



THE BLIND MAN. 

' T is darkness, darkness ; dreary, starless night; 

Nature a blank, and day that shows no sun ; 
Man, earth and seas and heavens shutout from sight — - 

Such is thy portion, blind and hapless one ! 

Hapless ? a smile upon thy lip will dwell, 
While in thy sunken eye no light appears ! 

That cold and rayless orb will never tell 
If first its film would burst for joy or tears. 

Yet light is in thy soul — that fire divine, 

That shone on Horeb's mount, illumines thee : 

Thou walk'st in safety, for the Guide is thine, 
Whom Israel followed through the parting sea. 

Tho' thou must grope for pillars hands have raised, 
Like him who erst Philistia's thousands slew, 

The temple where, by angels, God is praised, 
Thy father's house, is ever kept in view. 

Thou know'st how soon these earthly walls must fail ; 

How frail and vain the things of time and sense ; 
Thy steady faith looks onward through the veil, 

Where life eternal and its joys commence. 

Thy head is white — thy foot is at the grave ; 

And nature's hasty work is nearly done ; 
But He will bear thee safe o'er Jordan's wave, 

Whose peace is with thee, blind, but happy one ! 



119 



THE SHIP IS READY. 

Fare thee well ! the ship is ready, 
And the breeze is fresh and steady. 
Hands are fast the anchor weighing ; 
High in the air the streamer 's playing. 
Spread the sails — the waves are swelling 
Proudly round thy buoyant dwelling, 
Fare thee well ! and when at sea, 
Think of those, who sigh for thee. 

When from land and home receding, 
And from hearts, that ache to bleeding, 
Think of those behind, who love thee, 
While the sun is bright above thee ! 
Then, as down to ocean glancing, 
With the waves his rays are dancing, 
Think how long the night will be 
To the eyes, that weep for thee. 

When the lonely night-watch keeping, 
All below thee still and sleeping — 
As the needle points the quarter 
O'er the wide and trackless water, 
Let thy vigils ever find thee 
Mindful of the friends behind thee ! 
Let thy bosom's magnet be 
Turned to those, who wake for thee ! 



120 

When, with slow and gentle motion, 
Heaves the bosom of the ocean — 
While in peace thy bark is riding, 
And the silver moon is gliding 
O'er the sky with tranquil splendor, 
Where the shining hosts attend her ; 
Let the brightest visions be 
Country, home and friends, to thee ! 

When the tempest hovers o'er thee, 
Danger, wreck, and death before thee, 
While the sword of fire is gleaming, 
Wild the winds, the torrent streaming, 
Then, a pious suppliant bending, 
Let thy thoughts to heaven ascending 
Reach the mercy seat, to be 
Met by prayers that rise for thee ! 



131 



THE ANEMONE. 

Thy charm, pale, modest, timid one, 
Is this, that thou dost ever shun 
The public walk, and to the sun 

Dost show an open heart, 
Which does not fear the brightest ray, 
That's darted from the eye of day, 
Will aught of secret stain betray, 

Or find a double part. 

And thou hast never been beguiled 
To quit the simple, quiet wild, 
Where nature placed her modest child 

To worship her alone. 
Thou dost not ask the brow of toil 
To shed its costly dew, to spoil 
The bed of free, untortured soil, 

Which thou hast made thine own. 

And now, if I were hence to take 
Thee, root and stem, it would but make 
Thee homesick — and the spell would break, 

That 's round the desert gem. 
So, I will set me down and look 
On thy fair leaves, my little book, 
To read the name of Him, who took 

Such care in forming them ! 



122 



WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM.* 

Thou tiny leaf, 
Thou art so small, so very small, 

I must be brief, 
If I would sully thee at all, 
With aught that from my pen may fall ! 

Then haste from me ; 
Go quick to Caroline, and show 

My wish, that she 
O'er no rude spot of earth may go, 
Small as thyself, where thorns shall grow : ■ 

That there may be 
No cloud so broad in all her sky 

'T would shadow thee ; 
Nor pain nor sorrow e'er come nigh 
To blanch her cheek, or dim her eye : — 

That I may claim 
What she on memory may bestow 

In friendship's name — ■ 
A smile, or tear, as joy or wo 
Shall mark the path where I may go ! 

* These lines were inscribed on a leaf but two inches square. 



123 



RECOLLECTIONS. 

I wonder what they have done with the pine, 
Where the red-breast came to sing — 

With the maple, too, where the wandering vine 
So wildly used to fling 

Its loaded arms from bough to bough, 

And if they gather the grapes there now. 

I should like to know if they 've killed the bee, 

And carried away the hive ; 
If they 've broken the heart of my chestnut- tree, 

Or left it still to survive, 
And its laughing burs are showering down 
Their loosened treasures of shining brown. 

And there was a beautiful pond, that stood 

Like an ample azure vase ; 
Or a mirror, embosomed in wild green wood, 

For the sun to see his face. 
Have they torn up its lilies to open a sluice 
And let that peaceful prisoner loose ? 

i 
Perhaps they have ruined the ancient oak, 

That gave me its grateful shade ; 
And its own dead root in its bed is broke 

By the plough, from its branches made ; 
i Nor am I sure I could find the spot 
I Where I had my bower and my mossy grot. 



124 

And shall I go back to my first loved home 

To find how all is changed, 
Alone o'er those altered scenes to roam, 

From my early self estranged ? 
Shall I bend me over the glassy brook, 
No more on the face of a child to look ? 



No ! no ! for that loveliest spot upon earth 



Let memory's charm suffice ! 
But the spirit will long to the place of her birth 

From time and its change to rise ; 
To soar and recover her primal bloom, 
When death with his trophy has stopped at the tomb \ 



125 



TO THE MOONBEAMS. 

Away, away, from her favorite bower, 
Where ye loved to come in the evening hour, 
To silver the leaf, to smile on the flower, 

And checker the scene so playfully ! 
Away, away ! for the maid ye seek 
Hath a darkened eye, and a pale, pale cheek I 
As the lonely walk and the flowers all speak, 

While they hang their heads so mournfully ! 

Away ! for the voice ye used to win, 
With its soft, rich melody formed within, 
Is hushed — 't is gone, as it never had been 

Poured out so sweet and feelingly ! 
And the fearful harp, that ye could make 
Its deepest and tenderest notes awake, 
Now hath not a string but it fain would break, 

They lie so lorn and listlessly ! 

Away, to the slope of the dew-bright hill ; 
Where the sod is fresh, and the air is chill ; 
Where the marble is white, and all is still, 

O'er beauty sleeping peacefully ! 
But never reveal who there is led 
By your light to weep o'er her lowly bed, 
That a spirit so pure from the earth hath fled, 

And to sigh for her loss unceasingly ! 
25 



126 



THE CHEROKEE AT WASHINGTON. 

I come from an ancient race — 

From the wilds where my father trod ; 
And, though I present the red man's face, 
I believe in the Christian's God. 

I come where your Chief is laid, 
At rest in his own dear land ; 
And I now would ask, if his mighty shade 
Presides o'er your council band. 

If so, he will know the type 
Of peace and of purity ; 
The chain of gold, and the silver pipe, 
Bestowed on the Cherokee. 

And here must he turn aside 

To weep, and to blush for shame, 
Thus to hear our nation's rights denied, 
And his debase her name. 

Oh ! no — by the faith of man, 
Our claims ye must yet allow ! 
By the Book ye read, ye never can 
Thus your pledges disavow ! 

Ye say that He went about, 
Whom ye follow, doing good. 
Does he bid you hunt the red man out, 
Like a wolf from his native wood ? 



127 

Ye teach us, too, that He 

Is to judge the quick and the dead : 
Before his throne, will the difference be 
That the face was white, or red ? 

And ye tell us what He said, 
When He pointed to the coin 
Impressed with the sovereign's name and head, 
And what his words enjoin. 

Our image on our land, 
As Caesar's on the gold, 
Has been impressed by our Maker's hand, 
And it never must be sold ! 

For, dear as the spot of earth 
Where first your breath ye drew, 
Your father's sepulchres, your hearth 
And altar are to you ; 

The ties are far more strong, 

Which we feel to our native soil, 
Than yours — ye have not been so long, 
As the nation ye would spoil ! 

By power ye may o'ercome ; 
But should ye thus succeed, 
And drive the poor Indian from his home — 
Great Spirit, forgive the deed ! 



128 



THE THRICE CLOSED EYE. 

The eye was closed, and calm the breast; 
' T was Sleep — the weary was at rest ! 
While fancy on her rainbow wings 
Ranged through a world of new-made things, 
Mid regions pure, and visions bright, 
Formed but to mock the waking sight. 
For, ah ! how light does slumber sit, 
On sorrow's brow — how quickly flit 
From her pale throne, when envious care 
Comes wrapped in clouds and frowning there ! 

Again I saw the falling lid, 

And from his sight the world was hid. 

The lip was moved ; the knee was bent ; 

The heavy laden spirit went, 

Bearing her burden from the dust 

Up to her only Rock of trust ; 

And, childlike, on her Father's breast 

Cast off the load, and found her rest. 

For, this was Prayer — 't was faith and love 

Communing with a God above. 

At length that eye was locked ! the key 
Had opened heaven — ; t was Death ! yes, he 
Had sweetly quelled the mortal strife, 
And to the saint the gates of life 
Unbolted. On the sleeper's brow 
Lay the smooth seal of quiet now, 



129 

Which none could break. The soul, that here 
Dwelt with eternal things so near, 
Had burst her bonds to soar on high, 
And left to earth the thrice-closed eye ! 



26 



130 



* T O A ****** 

Thy parents, boy, are on the deep, 

The wide and pathless sea ; 
But He, who wafts their sail, will keep 

A father's eye on thee. 

For He hath seen what they have done ; 

And He hath heard their prayer, — 
He knows they 've left their darling son 

Beneath his guardian care. 

The tenderness thy mother felt, 
When to her breast she drew 

Her child, and at his altar knelt, 
His love will still outdo. 

And He will guard thy parents too, 

Upon a foreign shore ; 
For his the eye, at single view, 

To look creation o'er. 

He '11 let thy little image cling 
To all their thoughts by day ; 

And nightly, like a cherub thing, 
About their slumbers play. 

* Addressed to a child, whose parents had embarked for Europe. 



131 

In many a bright and blissful dream 
They '11 kiss thy rosy cheek ; 

Thy laughing, sparkling eye will beam - 
Thy prattling tongue will speak. 

Thy tender arms, so warm and fair, 
Around their necks will twine ; 

They '11 feel thy silken, sunny hair, 
That ruby lip of thine. 

While oft they dwell on scenes behind 

Of dear domestic joy, 
The loveliest object brought to mind 

Will be their smiling boy. 



132 



A HYMN AT SEA. 

O Thou, who hast spread out the skies 
And measured the depths of the sea, 

' Twixt the heavens and the ocean shall rise, 
Our incense of praises to thee ! 

We know that thy presence is near, 

While our bark tosses far from the land ; 

And we ride o'er the deep without fear ; 
For, the waters are held in thy hand. 

Though not since the morn when the flood 
Poured in, this vast cavern to fill, 

Has the sea ever motionless stood, 
Or the pulse of its bosom been still. 

Inscribed on its face, from that hour 

Thy name has indelibly shone, 
Where man, while he worships thy power, 

Can leave not a trace of his own ! 

Eternity comes in the sound 

Of the billows, that never can sleep ! 

There 's Deity circling us round — 
Omnipotence walks o'er the deep ! 



O Father, our eye is to thee, 
As on for the haven we roll ; 

And faith in our Pilot shall be 
An anchor to steady the soul ! 



133 



AMERICAN HYMN. 

Who, when darkness gathered o'er us, 
Foes and death on every side, 

Robed in glory, walked before us, 
Leading on, like Israel's guide ? 

' T was Jehovah ! he appearing 
Showed his banner far and wide ! 

When the trump of war was sounding, 
'T was the Lord who took the field. 

He, his people then surrounding, 
Made the strong in battle yield, 

To our fathers, few in number, 

He was armor, strength and shield ! 

In the God of armies trusting, 
'Mid their weakness, void of fear, 

Soon they felt their bonds were bursting - 
Saw the dawning light appear. 

Clouds, dissolving in the sunbeams, 
Showed the land of Freedom near. 

Hark ! we hear to heaven ascending, 

From the voices of the free, 
Hallelujahs, sweetly blending 

With the song of Liberty ! 

Power Almighty, we the victory 

Ever will ascribe to thee ! 
27 



134 

Lo ! the dove, the olive bearing, 
Plants it on Columbia's shore ! 

Every breast its branch is wearing 
Where the buckler shone before ! 

Praise the Eternal ! He is reigning ! 
Praise him ! praise him evermore ! 






135 



FUNERAL DIRGE. 

Lift not, lift not, the shadowy pall 
From the beauteous form it veileth ; 

Nor ask, as the offerings of sorrow fall, 
Who it is that the mourner waileth ! 

We could not look on a face so dear, 
With the burial gloom surrounding, 

A name so cherished we must not hear, 
While her funeral knell is sounding ! 

But seek with the throng of the young and fair 
Their loveliest still to number ; — 

You will find her not ! for 'tis her we bear 
In the mansion of death to slumber ! 

She shone to our sight like a gladdening ray 

Of light, that awhile was given 
To brighten the earth, and has passed away, 

Undimmed, to its source in heaven ! 



28 



136 



THE INDIAN BOY WITH HIS 
FATHER'S BOW. 

I look on the bow that my father bent, 

And I know the ways where the warrior went. 

I remember the flash of the chieftain's eye ; 

When he heard the whoop of the foeman nigh ! 

I can see the fall of that stately head 

On the dauntless breast, when its blood was shed J 

And I bear in my heart the charge that hung, 

To avenge his death, on the faltering tongue ! 

My hand is as firm to bend the bow ; 
My foot through the forest as fleet to go ; 
I can aim my dart with as sure an eye ; 
And I am as ready as he to die ! 
My spirit is burning with thirst to meet 
Our ancient foe — for revenge is sweet. 
Lo ! onward I go, and my father's shade 
Shall be at my side, till the debt is paid ! 

He leaps, and is gone, like the bounding deer; 
But not like her, from the hound and spear. 
He flies to his death — he has met the dart ; 
And 'tis drinking the blood of that fearless heart ! 
But it came too late, for his dying ear 
The curse of his falling foe can hear — 
The arrow was sped, which brings him low, 
By the hand of the son, from the father's bow - 



137 



WHITEFIELD'S REMAINS.* 

Ye sacred relics, not with foot profane 
Would I disturb the quiet of the dead ; 

Where, wrapped in shades and stillness ye have lain, 
Till more than half a century hath fled ! 

I have no vainly curious eye to see, 

How strange the works of time and death appear ; 
To find the sentence of mortality, 

1 Ashes to ashes !' executed here. 

Yet, I from infancy have longed to look, 
For once, on you, then bid a long farewell ; 

Since 'twas from you, great Whitefield's spirit took 
Her flight to mansions where the blessed dwell ! 

Ye were her earthen vessel ! — and ye bore 

That goodly treasure on, from clime to clime ! 
Ye were the fine-wrought vesture that she wore, 
' And gently dropped, as closed the scene of time. 

Here, hallowed dust, thou still hast slumbered on, 
While, o'er thy rest, the beauteous feet of those, 

Who brought salvation's news, have stood ; then gone, 
Tired with life's journey, to the grave's repose. 

* The remains of the Rev. George Whitefield are deposited beneath the pulpii of 
the Church of the First Presbyterian Society in Newburyport, Mass. in which there 
is a marble cenotaph to his memory. 



138 

And wilt thou linger yet, till he, who stands 
Above thee now, the gospel to proclaim, 

Has ceased to lift in prayer his holy hands, 
And monumental marble speaks his name ? 

Oh ! wait not this* — but go and sleep unseen, 
Deep in the bosom of thy mother earth ! 

Let nature deck thy couch with living green, 

Till, changed, th' archangel's trump shall call thee 
forth ! 

And now, farewell ! I have been told by thee, 
The things a thousand tongues would fail to say : 

Thou bid'st the mortal part its value see — 

The soul mount up where Whitefield's led the way ! 



* The removal of these remains to the public burial ground, was contemplated at 
the time this was written. 



109 



THE RELEASE. 



" And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was 
sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains ; and the keepers before the door 
kept the prison." 



Behold, amid the prison's gloom profound, 
While Herod's guards the massive doors are keeping, 

By soldiers watched, in iron fetters bound, 

The man of God, serene and sweetly sleeping. 

And thus the loved disciple of the Lord 
Can sink to rest, defying pain and sorrow, 

While persecution points the glittering sword 
To mark him as her victim ere the morrow. 

For, what is there in death for him to fear, 
Tho' he no more may see earth's morning breaking? 

He feels 't is but salvation drawing near ; 
That Heaven's bright dawn shall follow his awaking ! 

But who is this, that suddenly appears, 

With light effulgent round the prison beaming ? 

The captive feels his touch — awakes, and hears 
A voice, whose sound hath more than earthly seeming ! 

' Rise ! gird thyself and bind thy sandals on, 
And follow me without the yielding portals ! 

Thy chains are broken and the power is gone, 
That armed awhile these blind and erring mortals!' 



140 

It was thine angel, O ! thou Holy One, 
That hovered o'er thy servant, in his slumber ! 

His labors in thy cause were not yet done — 

His days of service had not gained their number. 

Like him, the man whose trust is fixed on thee 
May ever rest, 'mid threatening foes and danger. 

But, where, O Lord, can hope or safety be, 
For him, who treads life's path, to thee a stranger ? 



141 



THE MOON UPON THE SPIRE. 

The full-orbed moon has reached no higher, 
Than yon old church's mossy spire ; 
And seems, as gliding up the air, 
She saw the fane ; and, pausing there, 
Would worship, in the tranquil night, 
The Prince of peace — the Source of light, 
"Where man for God prepared the place, 
And God to man unveils his face. 

Her tribute all around is seen, 
She bends, and worships like a queen ! 
Her robe of light and beaming crown, 
In silence, she is casting down; 
And, as a creature of the earth, 
She feels her lowliness of birth — 
Her weakness and inconstancy 
Before unchanging purity ! 

Pale traveller, on thy lonely way, 
'T is well thine homage thus to pay ; 
To reverence that ancient pile, 
And spread thy silver o'er the aisle, 
Which many a pious foot has trod, 
That now is dust beneath the sod ; 
Where many a sacred tear was wept, 
From eyes that long in death have slept ! 



142 

The temple's builders — where are they? 

The worshippers ? — all passed away, 

Who came the first, to offer there 

The song of praise, the heart of prayer ! 

Man's generation passes soon ; 

It wanes and changes like the moon. 

He rears the perishable wall ; 

But, ere it crumbles, he must fall ! 

And does he sink to rise no more ? 
Has he no part to triumph o'er 
The pallid king? — no spark, to save 
From darkness, ashes, and the grave ? 
Thou holy place, the answer, wrought 
In thy firm structure, bars the thought ! 
The spirit that established thee, 
Nor death, nor darkness e'er shall see ! 



143 



THE WIDOW'S LULLABY. 

Ah ! slumber on, my darling boy, 
Nor send the blissful dream away, 

Which makes the smile of conscious joy 
Across thy beauteous features play. 

Thou think'st, perhaps, thy sire is here, 
And clasps thee in a fond embrace ; 

Thou know'st not 't is thy mother's tear, 
So warm upon thy dimpled face ! 

Thou hast not learned how still and cold, 
The arms where thou believ'st thou art ; 

Nor dost thou know that mine infold 
An orphan near a widow's heart ! 

And, shouldst thou at this moment wake, 
I know what name thou 'dst lisp the first ; 

To hear it called in vain, would make 
This aching, swelling heart to burst ! 



144 



THE METHODIST CHURCH. 

Lord, whatso'er the temple, where 
Thy children meet to worship thee, 

Hast thou not given thy word, that there, 
To bless them, thou wilt surely be ? 

Then thou art here with those, who kneel 
In reverence of thy name divine ! 

Their souls thy cheering presence feel — 
To faith's pure eye thy glories shine. 

For here a favored flock is fed 

With that blessed food thy love hath given ; 
And prayers, like mingling odors shed 

From golden phials, rise to heaven. 

We see about this hallowed fane 
No pageant marks on either side : — 

No splendid offering of the vain, 
Nor costly sacrifice to pride. 

Around no drapery idly falls — 

No sculptured marble proudly stands : 

Devotion reared these modest walls, 
And here she lifts her holy hands. 

Thy servants here are curtained round, 
Lord, by the shadow of thy wings ; 

Here richest ornaments are found — 
The jewels of the King of kjngs ! 



145 

The fervent heart is kindling here, 
And sends to heaven a holy flame ; 

This altar takes contrition's tear, 
The brightest gift that Christ would claim ! 



29 



146 



THE BUTTERFLY'S DREAM. 

A tulip, just opened, had offered to hold 

A butterfly, gaudy and gay ; 
And, rocked in a cradle of crimson and gold, 

The careless young slumberer lay. 

For the butterfly slept, as such thoughtless ones will, 

At ease, and reclining on flowers, 
If ever they study, 't is how they may kill 

The best of their mid-summer hours. 

And the butterfly dreamed, as is often the case 

With indolent lovers of change, 
Who, keeping the body at ease in its place, 

Give fancy permission to range. 

He dreamed that he saw, what he could but despise, 

The swarm from a neighboring hive ; 
Which, having come out for their winter supplies, 

Had made the whole garden alive. 

He looked with disgust, as the proud often do, 

On the diligent movements of those, 
Who, keeping both present and future in view, 

Improve every hour as it goes. 

As the brisk little alchymists passed to and fro, 

With anger the butterfly swelled ; 
And called them mechanics — a rabble too low 

To come near the station he held. 



147 

'Away from my presence ! ' said he, in his sleep, 

1 Ye humble plebeians ! nor dare 
Come here with your colorless winglets to sweep 

The king of this brilliant parterre ! ' 

He thought, at these words, that together they flew, 

And, facing about, made a stand ; 
And then, to a terrible army they grew, 

And fenced him on every hand. 

Like hosts of huge giants, his numberless foes 
Seemed spreading to measureless size ; 

Their wings with a mighty expansion arose, 
And stretched like a veil o'er the skies. 

Their eyes seemed like little volcanoes, for fire, — 
Their hum, to a cannon-peal grown, — 

Farina to bullets was rolled in their ire, 
And, he thought, hurled at him and his throne. 

He tried to cry quarter ! his voice would not sound, 
His head ached — his throne reeled and fell ; 

His enemy cheered, as he came to the ground, 
And cried, 'king Papilio, farewell! ' 

His fall chased the vision — the sleeper awoke, 

The wonderful dream to expound ; 
The lightning's bright flash from the thunder-cloud 
broke, 

And hail-stones were rattling around. 



148 

He 'd slumbered so long, that now, over his head, 

The tempest's artillery rolled. 
The tulip was shattered — the whirl-blast had fled, 

And borne off its crimson and gold. 

*T is said, for the fall and the pelting, combined 
With suppressed ebullitions of pride, 

This vain son of summer no balsam could find, 
But he crept under covert and died. 



149 



MARY DOW. 

1 Come in, little stranger,' I said, 
As she tapped at my half open door, 

While the blanket, pinned over her head, 
Just reached to the basket she bore. 

A look full of innocence fell 

From her modest and pretty blue eye, 
As she said, i I have matches to sell, 

And hope you are willing to buy. 

1 A penny a bunch is the price ; 

I think you '11 not find it too much ; 
They 're tied up so even and nice, 

And ready to light with a touch.' 

I asked, { what 's your name, little girl ?' 
' 'T is Mary,' said she, i Mary Dow.' 

And carelessly tossed off a curl, 
That played o'er her delicate brow. 

1 My father was lost in the deep, 

The ship never got to the shore; 
And mother is sad, and will weep, 

When she hears the wind blow and sea roar. 

1 She sits there at home without food, 
Beside our poor sick Willie's bed; 

She paid all her money for wood, 
And so I sell matches for bread. 
30 



150 

I For every time that she tries, 

Some things she 'd be paid for, to make, 
And lays down the baby, it cries, 

And that makes my sick brother wake. 

'I 'd go to the yard and get chips, 
But then it would make me too sad ; 

To see men there building the ships, 
And think they had made one so bad. 

6 1 've one other gown, and with care, 
We think it may decently pass, 

With my bonnet that 's put by to wear 
To meeting and sunday-school class. 

I I love to go there, where I 'm taught 
Of One, who 's so wise and so good, 

He knows every action and thought, 
And gives e'en the raven his food. 

For He, I am sure, who can take 

Such fatherly care of a bird, 
Will never forget or forsake 

The children who trust to his word. 

* And now, if I only can sell 

The matches I brought out to-day, 

I think I shall do very well, 

And mother '11 rejoice at the pay.' 



151 

1 Fly home, little bird/ then I thought, 
1 Fly home full of joy to your nest! ' 

For I took all the matches she brought, 
And Mary may tell you the rest. 



31 



152 



THE CROCUS'S SOLILOQUY, 

Down in my solitude under the snow, 
Where nothing cheering can reach me ; 

Here, without light to see how to grow, 
I '11 trust to nature to teach me. 

I will not despair, nor be idle, nor frown, 

Locked in so gloomy a dwelling; 
My leaves shall run up, and my roots shall run down 

While the bud in my bosom is swelling. 

Soon as the frost will get out of my bed, 

From this cold dungeon to free me, 
I will peer up with my little bright head ; 

All will be joyful to see me. 

Then from my heart will young petals diverge, 

As rays of the sun from their focus. 
I from the darkness of earth will emerge 

A happy and beautiful Crocus ! 

Gaily arrayed in my yellow and green, 

When to their view I have risen, 
Will they not wonder how one so serene 

Came from so dismal a prison? 

Many, perhaps, from so simple a flower 

This little lesson may borrow — 
Patient to-day, through its gloomiest hour, 

We come out the brighter to-morrow ! 



153 



THE DISSATISFIED ANGLERBOY. 

I 'm sorry they let me go down to the brook, 
I 'm sorry they gave me the line and the hook, 
And I wish I had staid at home with my book. 

I 'm sure 't was no pleasure to see 
That poor, little, harmless, suffering thing 
Silently writhe at the end of the string ; 
Or to hold the pole, while I felt him swing 

In torture, and all for me ! 

'T was a beautiful, speckled and glossy trout, 
And when from the water I drew him out 
On the grassy bank, as he floundered about, 

It made me shivering cold, 
To think I had caused so much needless pain : 
And I tried to relieve him, but all in vain : 
Oh! never, as long as I live, again 

May I such a sight behold ! 

O, what would I give once more to see 
The brisk little swimmer alive and free r 
And darting about, as he used to be, 

Unhurt, in his native brook ! 
'T is strange how people can love to play 
By taking innocent lives away : 
I wish I had staid at home to-day 

With sister, and read my book. 



154 

CUPID'S WARNING. 

1 Take heed ! take heed ! 

They will go with speed ; 
For I 've just new-strung my bow ! 
My quiver is full ; and if oft I pull, 
Some arrow may hit, you know, 

You know, You know, 
Some arrow may hit, you know.' 

1 Oh ! pull away,' 

Did the maiden say, 
1 For who is the coward to mind 
A shaft that 's flung by a boy so young, 
When both of his eyes are blind, 

Are blind, are blind, 
When both of his eyes are blind ? ' 

His bow he drew ; 

And the shafts they flew, 
Till the maiden was heard to cry, 
c Oh ! take the dart from my aching heart, 
Dear Cupid, or else I die ! 

I die, I die, 
Dear Cupid, or else I die ! ' 

He said, and smiled, 

1 I am but a child, 
And should have no skill to find, 
E'en with both my eyes, where the dart now lies 
Then you know, fair maid, I 'm blind, 

I 'm blind, I 'm blind, 
You know, fair maid, I 'm blind ! ' 



155 



THE REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER'S 
BEQUEST. 

( Behold/ the hoary vet'ran said, 

i The silver scattered o' my head; 

A remnant of the auburn hair, 

That curled in sunny clusters there, 

When, in the land that now is thine, 

With bounding flock and fruitful vine, 

While Freedom's banner waves unfurled, 

The envy of a gazing world, 

Life was but slavery to me ; 

And when I fought, my son, for thee. 

Thy father's forehead time has bared ; 
The few white locks, that yet are spared 
And lonely round my temples stray, 
Soon from thy sight must pass away. 
So thinned, so scattered o'er the land 
Is now that valiant, patriot band, 
Who, when their country gave the word, 
" To arms ! to arms ! gird on thy sword ! " 
Sprang forth, resolved her chains to break, 
Or earth their gory bed to make. 
And, gathering where their chieftain led, 
Thick as the hairs that clothed this head, 
Marched onward, where the foeman stood 
Waiting to dip his foot in blood.' 

# * #• ■* * ■» * 
1 Though many a groan was heard around 
From quivering lips that strewed the ground ; 



f 



156 

Yet none could pause to bid farewell, 

When at his side his brother fell, 

To close alone the dying eye — 

To heave unheard the final sigh, 

With none to stay the fleeting breath, 

Or wipe away the damps of death. 

For straggling Liberty impelled, 

When nature's ties had fain withheld ; 

Until the God of armies spake 

The word, that made her bonds to break. 

And Independence, shouting loud, 

Burst glorious from the fiery cloud 

That rolled upon the battle-field, 

And scenes of blood and death concealed ! 

'T was thus thy liberty was won, 

'T was thus I fought for thee, my son ! ' 

1 Yes, on the earth I 've sought my rest, 

The hoar-frost gathering o'er my breast; 

And oft the freezing, midnight air 

That chilled my blood, has warmed my prayer, 

That He, who governs all, would ride 

With victory on our injured side. 

Through winter's cold, and summer's heat, 

With aching head and weary feet, 

And hunger's cravings I have gone ; 

And when I saw the morning dawn, 

Have thought my day of life must close, 

Ere the first star of evening rose. ' 



157 

l , But now those toils have long been o'er, 
And Plenty spreads from shore to shore ; 
While Peace and Freedom join to sing 
The praises of our heavenly king. 
And long his eye has sweetly slept, 
Who then in lonely sorrow wept, 
And bowed with years beneath the stroke, 
When his last earthly prop was broke, 
And his fair son, upon the plain, 
Lay pale, and numbered with the slain. 
The widow too, has made her bed 
Low as her soldier's, when he bled, 
And waning life could only spare 
A breath to waft the soldier's prayer, 
' Receive, O God, my soul — and bless 
The widow and the fatherless I ■ 
* * * * * * * 

1 And now, the dimpled babe that smiled, 
When the armed warrior clasped his child ; 
And felt a father's parting kiss 
Distend his little heart with bliss ; 
Nor knew that parting kiss must sever 
His father's face from his forever ; 
That infant's face is altered now, 
Life's Autumn rays are on his brow. 
While bending o'er the grave I stand 
Waiting a few last grains of sand, 
To drop my clay beneath the sod 
And give my spirit back to God.' 



158 

1 No glittering wealth that stored the mine, 

Will at thy father's death be thine. 

The scanty portion earth bestows 

Just lasts me to my journey's close. 

But then. I feel I leave thee more 

Than sparkling gems, or dazzling ore ; 

Thy heritage is worth them all — 

Thy lines in pleasant places fall. 

Thou hast the land of liberty, 

Which I have fought to win for thee. 

O, keep the dear bequest T make 

Unsullied, for my memory's sake ! 

Let no usurping tyrant tread 

Upon my low and peaceful bed — 

No cringing slave retire to weep 

For freedom, where my ashes sleep. 

But when the hand of Time shall trace 

His name in furrows on thy face ; 

When four-score years have plucked thy hair, 

And bowed thy form their weight to bear ; 

When thou the minute hand shalt see 

Pointing thy feet to follow me, 

To God, and to thy country true, 

Then, for a heavenly home in view, 

Thou to thy son this land resign 

As blessed and free, as I to mine.' 



159 

TO MRS. L**, 

With a little book of Poems in manuscript. 

Although my foot could never tread 

On proud Parnassus's lofty head, 

And though I 've long essayed in vain 

E'en on its side a seat to gain, 

I 've often knelt in supplication 

Before the Muse for inspiration, 

Who turned aside her partial ear 

And all my prayers refused to hear. 

And, though my steps did never falter, 

While seeking flowers to deck her altar, 

Before the offerings could be made, 

My voice grew faint, my wreaths would fade ; 

My sacrifices were rejected, 

Or past unnoticed and neglected. 

Though many an hour and many a day, 

I 've sighed for power to sing and play ; 

I never sought to strike the lyre 

With hah the feeling, half the fire 

With which to-day I fain would sing, 

And sweep for thee, the tuneful string — 

For notes so deep, so sweet and clear, 

As I would pour into thine, ear ! 

And yet, my voice was ne'er so low, 

My trembling hand ne'er half so slow, 

My fearful lyre so loath to pour, 

Its timid numbers forth, before ! 



J 



160 

Where genius, science, taste refined 

Are centered in one favorite's mind, 

And she may listen to a throng 

Of all the darling sons of song, 

It ill befits me to appear ; 

And if I come, 't is but with fear, — 

The feeble taper's shrinking blaze 

Amid the sun's resplendent rays ! 

I never wished for flowers so sweet 

As I would scatter at thy feet. 

But all I bring are wild and pale, 

And humble natives of the vale, 

Which I have plucked, where oft I stray, 

On fancy's wide and devious way, 

In playful, or in pensive mood, 

As chanced to pass my solitude. 

I know they soon would droop and die 
Beneath the world's stern, withering eye. 
But since thy wish is to receive them, 
With joy, in trust, with thee I leave them ; 
Assured that thou desirest to take 
The gift, but for the giver's sake. 
I 've formed of them a small bouquet, 
A keepsake, near thy heart to lay, 
Because 't is there, I know full well, 
That charity and kindness dwell. 
And, in some lonely, silent hour, 
When thou shalt yield to memory's power, 
And let her fondly lead thee o'er 
The scenes that thou hast past before, 



161 

To absent friends and days gone by, 

Then, should they meet thy pensive eye, 

A true memento may they be 

Of one, whose bosom owes to thee 

So many hours enjoyed in gladness, 

That else perhaps iiad passed in sadness, 

And many a golden dream of joy, 

Untarnished and without alloy — 

Of one whose eye looks back to view 

The scenes that she has journeyed through, 

And sees no spots more brightly shine, 

Than those her feet have trod with thine ; 

Whose fervent prayer will ever be 

' Heaven's choicest blessings rest on thee ! ' 



32 



162 



THE PEBBLE AND THE ACORN. 

'Iarna Pebble ! and yield to none ! ' 

Were swelling words of a tiny stone, 

c Nor time, nor season can alter me ; 

I am abiding, while ages flee. 

The pelting hail and the drizzling rain 

Have tried to soften me, long, in vain ; 

And the tender dew has sought to melt, 

Or touch my heart ; but it was not felt. 

There *s none that can tell about my birth, 

For I 'm as old as the big, round earth. 

The children of men arise, and pass 

Out of the world, like the blades of grass; 

And many a foot on me has trod, 

That 's gone from sight, and under the sod ! 

I am a Pebble ! but who art thou, 

Rattling along from the restless bough ?' 

The Acorn was shocked at this rude salute, 
And lay for a moment abashed and mute. 
She never before had been so near 
This gravelly ball, the mundane sphere. 
And she felt for a time at loss to know 
How to answer a thing so coarse and low. 
But to give reproof of a nobler sort 
Than the angry look, or the keen retort, 
At length she said, in a gentle tone, 
' Since it has happened that I am thrown 
From the lighter element, where I grew, 
Down to another, so hard and new.' 



163 

1 And beside a personage so august, 

Abased, I will cover my head with dust, 

And quickly retire from the sight of one 

Whom time, nor season, nor storm, nor sun, 

Nor the gentle dew, nor the grinding heel 

Has ever subdued, or made to feel I 

And soon, in the earth, she sunk away 

From the comfortless spot where the Pebble lay. 

But it was not long ere the soil was broke 

By the peering head of an infant oak ! 

And, as it arose and its branches spread, 

The Pebble looked up, and wondering said, 

' A modest Acorn ! never to tell 

What was enclosed in its simple shell ; 

That the pride of the forest was folded up 

In the narrow space of its little cup ! 

And meekly to sink in the darksome earth, 

Which proves that nothing could hide her worth ! 

And oh ! how many will tread on me, 

To come and admire the beautiful tree, 

Whose head is towering towards the sky, 

Above such a worthless thing as I ! 

Useless and vain, a cumberer here, 

I have been idling from year to year. 

But never, from this, shall a vaunting word 

From the humbled Pebble again be heard, 

Till something without me or within, 

Shall show the purpose for which I 've been ! ' 

The Pebble its vow could not forget, 

And it lies there wrapt in silence yet. 



1G4 



IT SNOWS. 

It snows ! it snows ! from out the sky 
The feathered flakes, how fast they fly, 
Like little birds, that don't know why 
They 're on the chase, from place to place, 
While neither can the other trace. 
It snows ! it snows ! a merry play 
Is o'er us, on this heavy day ! 

As dancers in an airy hall, 
That hasn 't room to hold them all, 
While some keep up, and others fall, 
The atoms shift, then, thick and swift, 
They drive along to form the drift, 
That weaving up, so dazzling white, 
Is rising like a wall of light. 

But, now the wind comes whistling loud, 

To snatch and waft it, as a cloud, 

Or giant phantom in a shroud ; 

It spreads ! it curls ! it mounts and whirls, 

At length, a mighty wing unfurls; 

And then, away ! but, where, none knows, 

Or ever will. — It snows ! it snows ! 



165 

To-morrow: will the storm be done ; 

Then, out will come the golden sun : 

And we shall see, upon the run 

Before his beams, in sparkling streams, 

What now a curtain o'er him seems. 

And thus, with life, it ever goes; 

'T is shade and shine ! — It snows ! it snows ! 



33 



166 



A SABBATH AT NAHANT. 

The sun has thrown his morning beams 
Against the cliffs, that fence the waves, 

And down his mellow glory streams, 

Through narrow clefts and widening caves. 

The mossy rock, the foamy surge, 
The pebbly beach and grassy height, 

And site and cot, on ocean's verge, 
Are in a flood of sabbath light. 

And yet, no sabbath bell I hear 

Say ' Come ! come ! come ! the shepherd waits, 
Until his gath'ring flock draw near, 

To meet them at his temple gates ! ' 

These rocks, sublime in silence, stand 
And point us to the house of prayer! 

The deep gives out her loud command 
For man to praise her Ruler, there ! 

The light, that is its Author's smile, 
This balmy air, God's hallowed day, 

His finger in the heart the while, 
All to his altar show the way. 

Now by the willows, o'er the green, 

With ready feet, I pass to seek 
His face, who laid this mighty scene, 

While all its parts his praises speak. 



167 

Here, on the margin of the sea, 
The fane in simple beauty stands ; 

That minds us of eternity — 
This, of the { house not made with hands ' - 

Where different tribes, from lands afar, 
Shall to one happy home be led, 

By light that beamed from Bethlehem's star, 
To gather round one blessed Head. 

Stranger by stranger takes a seat ; 

Our songs and aspirations blend ; 
Through various ways, we come to meet 

Our common Parent, Lord and Friend. 

And, that our inmost wants may cease, 
And all the bosom's care and strife, 

The servant of the Prince of peace 
Presents to each the bread of life. 

It is an hour of sacred calm, 

Too bright and sweet on earth to waste, 
While Heaven is pouring down its balm, 

And manna falls, that all may taste. 

Father, when life's short vale is crossed, 
Within thy peaceful mansions grant, 

That all may find we have not lost 
This holy sabbath at Nahant ! 



168 



THE SPOUTING HORN. 

On the dark rock's steep 

I stood, where the deep 
By its view, like a mighty spell, bound me ; 

While the white foam-wreath 

Was weaving beneath, 
And the breeze from the waters played round me ; 

Then wave after wave, 

To a low, narrow cave, 
Came, as rest from a long journey seeking; 

But, 'out ! out! out! ' 

Was the word, which the Spout 
To its guests seemed eternally speaking. 

And each billow seen 

Rolling up, soft and green, 
To the Horn, full of grace in its motion, 

Now wild, as with fright, 

Would return snowy white, 
And rush, roaring, back to the ocean. 

In vain did my eye, 

By its search, seek to spy 
The monarch of this gloomy dwelling, 

Who thus, by the force 

Of his voice, stern and hoarse, 
The deep in her might was repelling. 



What power could be there, 

Shut from light, heat and air, 
I asked, with the dumbness of wonder; 

But, ' Out ! ' was the word, 

That alone could be heard, 
And in sounds like the roaring of thunder ! 

O Time! Time! 'tis thus, 

Thou art sporting with us ; 
Our touch at thy shore proudly spurning. 

To eternity we, 

As the waves to the sea, 
Are exhausted and restless returning ! 



34 



170 



THE LOST KITE. 

( My kite ! my kite ! I 've lost my kite ! 
Oh ! when I saw the steady flight, 
With which she gained her lofty height, 
How could I know, that letting go 
That naughty string, would bring so low 
My pretty, buoyant, darling kite, 
To pass forever out of sight ? 

1 A purple cloud was sailing by, 
With silver fringes, o'er the sky ; 
And then, I thought, it seemed so nigh, 
I 'd make my kite go up and light 
Upon its edge, so soft and bright; 
To see how noble, high and proud 
She 'd look, while riding on a cloud ! 

1 As near her shining mark she drew, 

I clapped my hands ; the line slipped through 

My silly fingers ; and she flew, 

Away ! away ! in airy play, 

Right over where the water lay ! 

She veered and fluttered, swung and gave 

A plunge, then vanished with the wave ! 



171 

* I never more shall want to look 
On that false cloud, or babbling brook ; 
Nor e'er to feel the breeze that took 
My dearest joy, to thus destroy 
The pastime of your happy boy. 
My kite ! my kite ! how sad to think 
She flew so high, so soon to sink ! ' 

" Be this," the mother said, and smiled, 
" A lesson to thee, simple child ! 
And when by fancies vain and wild, 
As that which cost the kite that 's lost, 
Thy busy brain again is crossed, 
Of shining vapor then beware, 
Nor trust thy joys to fickle air! 

" I have a darling treasure, too, 

That sometimes would, by slipping through 

My guardian hands, the way pursue, 

From which, more tight than thou thy kite, 

I hold my jewel, new and bright, 

Lest he should stray without a guide, 

To drown my hopes in sorrow's tide ! " 



35 



172 



THE VETERAN AND THE CHILD. 

1 Come, grandfather, show how you carried your gun 
To the field, where America's freedom was won, 
Or bore your old sword, which you say was new then, 
When you rose to command, and led forward your men ; 
And tell how you felt with the balls whizzing by, 
Where the wounded fell round you, to bleed and to die!' 

The prattler had stirred, in the veteran's breast, 

The embers of fire that had long been at rest. 

The blood of his youth rushed anew through his veins ; 

The soldier returned to his weary campaigns ; 

His perilous battles at once fighting o'er, 

While the soul of nineteen lit the eye of four-score. 

" I carried my musket, as one that must be 

But loosed from the hold of the dead, or the free ! 

And fearless I lifted my good, trusty sword, 

In the hand of a mortal, the strength of the Lord! 

In battle, my vital flame freely, I felt 

Should go, but the chains of my country to melt ! 

M I sprinkled my blood upon Lexington's sod, 

And Charlestown's green height to the war-drum I trod. 

From the fort, on the Hudson, our guns I depressed, 

The proud coming sail of the foe to arrest. 

I stood at Stillwater, the Lakes, and White Plains, 

And offered for freedom to empty my veins ! 



173 

M Dost now ask me, child, since thou hear'st where 

I 've been, 
Why my brow is so furrowed, my locks white and 

thin — 
Why this faded eye cannot go by the line, 
Trace oat little beauties, and sparkle like thine ; 
Or why so unstable his tremulous knee, 
Who bore ' sixty years since,' such perils for thee ? 

" What ! sobbing so quick ? are the tears going to start ? 

Come ! lean thy young head on thy grandfather's heart ! 

It has not much longer to glow with the joy 

I feel thus to clasp thee, so noble a boy ! 

But when in earth's bosom it long has been cold, 

A man, thou 'It recall, what, a babe, thou art told." 



174 



THE RUIN. 

O ! where are the faces that, so bright, 

Came in at these hingeless doors, 
And the feet of the many, which then, so light 

Tripped over these mouldering floors ? 

Where then at the window used to appear, 

In beauty, the human form, 
The paneless casement is void and drear, 
And open to wind and storm. 

The tangled ivy a covering leaves, 
As it creeps o'er the sinking walls, 

While the owlet hoots, and the spider weaves, 
Sole monarchs of these dim halls, 

The eye where trembled the sparkling tear — 
The lip that was curled in mirth — 

Where, where are they all, who once were here 
To people this crumbling hearth ? 

The dusky chambers, gloomy and lone, 
The breeze swept over and sighed ; 

While the voice of Time, from his dismal throne, 
The ruinous pile, replied, — 

i The faces have changed, and been sent away ! 

The feet have been long laid by ! 
The form has returned to its kindred clay, 

And darkness has wrapped the eye ! 



175 

1 All, all, who were here, like the hurrying waves 

That ride on the restless stream, 
Have hastened away ; have dropped in their graves ; 

Have finished life's changeful dream. 

' 'Tis bootless now, to the lowly dead, 

Who sleep in their beds of earth, 
That their feet were light, that their tears were shed, 

Or their lips were curled in mirth. 

1 Their splendor and mourning have both been cast 

Far into the dust and shade. 
And master and mansion my hand, at last, 

In ruins alike hath laid. 

* Yet man hath a spark forever to burn, 

A part that I ne'er can kill ; 
When I bid his form to the earth return, 
The spirit defies me, still. 

1 But I never must know, as the soul withdrew, 

For me to dissolve the clay, 
If joy or sorrow were hers in view, 

Nor whither she winged her way. 

* My sceptre is over these earthly things ; 

I raise, and I shake them down. 
And nations, and empires, and chiefs and kings, 
I conquer, and keep my crown. 



176 

1 But I, in my turn, am to pass away ; 

My reign must at length be o'er, 
When One, whose mandate e'en I must obey, 

Commands me to be no more!' 

I said, ' O Time ! if thy work be such 
With man and his earthly home, 

I '11 place my treasures where, not thy touch, 
Nor death's, is ever to come ! ' 



177 



THE VOICE. 

The voice — its melody touched the ear, 

As a. sound we should look toward heaven, to hear ', 

As the soft, rich light of the western sky, 

Where the sun went down, will meet the eye. 

And it made me think of a world afar, 

Above the sun, and the evening star — 

Of the odors of flowers that freight the air 

With the notes of the bright ones warbling there. 

Methinks, when the world looks void and dark — 
When the waves of trouble ingulph my bark — 
When the sky above me is black with wrath, 
And the lightning is all that illumes my path ; 
While I set my feet but with doubt and dread ; 
When the friend that I loved is false or dead ; 
In fear, in sorrow, in pain or care, 
I would hear that voice poured out in prayer. 

When the storm is past, and the heavens look bright, 

While the clouds that I feared are dissolved in light — 

When I smoothly glide o'er a peaceful sea, 

With a breeze all fragrance and purity ; 

When the friend that I chose is the true one still, 

Who adds to good, and who takes from ill; 

In every joy that may gild my days, 

I would hear that voice sent up in praise. 



178 

It was tuned for a rare and holy gift ; 

To pour in prayer, and in praise to lift ; 

And through the ear, as it took control, 

And wrought its charm o'er the spell-bound soul, 

It came in a sound so sweet and deep, 

It could soothe the heart, though the eye must weep. 

But it was not made for the thoughtless mirth 

Whose light is a blaze from the chaff of earth ! 



179 



THE ALABASTER BOX. 

And, who is she that, bearing 

The Alabaster Box, 
Is thus, neglected, wearing 

Her long and silken locks ? 

Her form is fair, but o'er her 

A shade of grief is cast, 
That speaks of wo before her, 

Or bitterness that 's past. 

Oh ! whither is she going ? 

And what is it to seek, 
With sorrow's fountains flowing 

On either pallid cheek ? 

Behold ! her steps are tending 
To him who sits at meat. 

'T is Mary! see her bending 
To weep at Jesus' feet ! 

And while her tears bestrew them, 
As pearls that scatter there, 

Her lips she presses to them, 
And wipes them with her hair. 

And, of a heart that 's broken 
For sin that she forsakes, 

She gives the precious token — 
The alabaster breaks. 



180 

From ointment now, that *s gushing 

To pour on Jesus' head, 
Sweet odors forth are rushing, 

And o'er the dwelling spread. 

But they, who see her spilling 
The spikenard fresh and pure, 

Rebuke her, as unwilling 
To sell it for the poor. 

While he, whose eye possesses 
The hidden, inmost thought, 

Pronounces good, and blesses 
The work by Mary wrought. 

He sees her heart is riven, 
And bids her sorrow cease. 

To them, he says, l forgiven, 
She shall depart in peace. 

' The poor are with you ever ! 

For them your treasures save. 
But she, before we sever, 

Anoints me for the grave ! ' 

Fair penitent ! when breaking 
For thee, the stony tomb, 

With sweeter odors waking, 
Thy spirit he '11 perfume ! 



181 



THE EMPTY BIER. 

Thou empty bier, that standest here 
Alone, by the church-yard gate, 

Say, whose the door thou'lt pause before 
Thy burden next to wait ? 

The bier replied — 'My range is wide, 

And my hours of rest but few; 
Yet, to One alone can the ways be known 

That I mast hence pursue. 

' I first may seek her form, whose cheek 

Is fresh in its maiden bloom, 
On me to lie, with a rayless eye, 

At the threshold of the tomb. 

'The youth, who last sped by so fast, 
With the nerve and the glow of health — - 

He next may find, that close behind 
Death followed him by stealth. 

'Or she, who smiled, when the lovely child 

She was lately leading near, 
With wonder stopped, and his lilies dropped, 

To gaze at the sable bier — 

1 That mother may be called to lay 

That beauteous boy on me, 
In his morning hour, like the dewy flower 

He lost, and as suddenly. 
36 



182 

1 Her own pale clay to bear away, 

It next may be my lot ; 
She may close her eyes on her infant ties, 

And her prattler be forgot. 

'As I must call, in time, for all, 
From the babe to the silver-haired, 

Thy glance at me, perchance may be, 
A hint to be prepared ! ' 



183 



THE LOST HYACINTH. 

My hyacinth, my hyacinth 
At length has come to light ! 

And round the stalk and purple buds 
The leaves are green and bright ! 

Renewed in beauty it has broke 
From out the crumbling earth : 

And, when I thought it dead and gone, 
It has another birth ! 

My hyacinth ! my hyacinth ! 

At last I 've found thee out. 
Oh ! where hast thou been hid so long ? 

What hast thou been about? 

' I 've been,' the little hermit said, 

1 Within my lowly cell ; 
And joy I 've had in quiet there, 

That tongue can never tell. 

1 In sweet communion with the power 

To which alone I trust, 
I 've worshipped long at nature's shrine, 

Abased below the dust. 

' This upper world I find a scene 

Of peril, change and strife. 
And from seclusion I must'draw 

My sweetest draught of life. 



184 

1 I would not live, if ever thus, 

Uncovered to the glare 
Of yonder sun, I must be brushed 

By ev'ry vagrant air. 

* ? T is best for me, and best for thee 

That I should pass from sight, 
To be a while in loneliness, 

And hidden from the light. 

1 For I should lose my greatest worth 

By being always here ; 
Thou would'st not feel the joy thou hast 

To see me re-appear. 

'From calm and humble solitude 

My first attractions flow, 
And, but for these, I were but poor, 

Without a charm to show. 

1 But I 've come back to stand awhile 

In beauty to thine eye; 
And when my flowers have gladdened thee, 

They '11 be content to die. 

1 And, while thy hyacinth her sweets 

Shall pour from every bell, 
Remember she her fragrance gained 

Within the lowly cell ! ' 



185 



ECHO. 

1 Father ! father ! come with me 

Down among the rocks ! 
Softly ! for I long to see 

Who it is that mocks. 
When I laugh, or sing, or call, 

Some one there repeats it all.' 

* Ah ! my child, thou dost not know 

All that 's dear and true, 
In this world of noise and show, 

Has its semblance too. 
E'en a sound with joy in it 

Will draw forth its counterfeit. 

1 'Mid the dissonance of earth 

We so oft must hear, 
Sweet the voice of infant mirth 

Falls upon the ear. 
Mingled innocence and joy ! 

Blessed harmony, my boy. 

i And, in heartless mockery, 

Echo now has caught 
Tones of gladness sent from thee; 

While herself is naught 
But the shadow of a sound, 

Thrown from rocks and hills around. 
37 



186 

< Be thou cautioned from to-day ; 

For thou yet must meet, 
Here and there on life's rude way, 

Many a fair deceit. 
No illusion seek to trace 

To her seeming dwelling place. 

t Here, while snares and pit-falls lie 

Round on every part, 
One is calling from on high, 

" Son, give me thy heart ! " 
He will ne'er deceive nor mock, 

Fly to Him, the Living Rock ! ' 






187 



HYMN OF THE REAPERS. 

Our Father, to fields that are white, 

Rejoicing, the sickle we bear, 
In praises our voices unite 

To thee, who hast made them thy care. 

The seed, that was dropped in soil, 

We left, with a holy belief 
In One, who, beholding the toil, 

Would crown it at length with the sheaf. 

And ever our faith shall be firm 

In thee, who hast nourished the root; 

Whose finger has led up the germ, 
And finished the blade and the fruit ! 

The heads, that are heavy with grain, 
Are bowing and asking to fall ; 

Thy hand is on mountain and plain, 
Thou Maker and Giver of all ! 

Thy blessings shine bright from the hills, 
The valleys thy goodness repeat; 

And, Lord, 'tis thy bounty that fills 
The arms of the reaper with wheat ! 

Oh ! when with the sickle in hand, 
The angel thy mandate receives, 

To come to the field with his band 
To bind up, and bear off* thy sheaves, — 
38 



188 

May we be as free from the blight, 

As ripe to be taken away, 
As full in the ear, to thy sight, 

As that which we gather to-day ! 

Our Father, the heart and the voice 
Flow out our fresh ofFrings to yield. 

The Reapers ! the Reapers rejoice, 

And send up their song from the field I 



189 



THE QUAKER. 

The Quaker stood under his smooth broad-brim r 
In the plain drab suit, that, simple and trim, 
Was better than royal robes to him, 

Who looked to the inward part, 
And emptied his breast of the pride of birth, 
Resigning the wealth and the honors of earth, 
For the durable riches of matchless worth, 

Reserved for the pure in heart. 

And he heaved a sigh at the lofty look 
Of the mitred head, o'er the gilded book, 
And a view of the costly drapery took 

With a meek and pitying eye. 
c Alas ! ' said he, as he turned away 
From the splendid temple, the grand display, 
1 What honor to worldly pomp they pay, 

In the name of the King Most High ! ' 

Then he looked around on his own proud land, 
Where those of his faith were a suffering band, 
Enslaved in conscience, and under the hand 

Of merciless power oppressed. 
1 I '11 seek,' said the Quaker, c a happier shore, 
Where I and my people may kneel before 
The shrine we erect to the God we adore, 

And none shall our rites molest ! ' 



190 

And, sick of the sounding of empty things, 
The beggarly strife in the land of kings, 
His dove-like spirit unfurled its wings 

For a broad and venturous sweep : 
They wafted him off, o'er billow and spray, 
'Twixt the sea and the sky, on a pathless way, 
To a beautiful sylvan scene, that lay 

Far over the boiling deep. 

And when he came down, unruffled and staid, 
Where, along the skirts of the peaceful shade, 
The Schuylkill and Delaware rolled, and made 

Their sparkling waters unite, 
The Indian sprang from his light canoe, 
The bird to the topmost bough withdrew, 
And the deer skipped up on the cliff, to view 

The new and unseemly sight. 

But the tomahawk dropped from the red man's hand, 
When he saw the Quaker advance, and stand, 
Presenting his purse, but to share the land 

He had come to possess with him; 
And scanning his mild and noble face, 
Where goodness was most that his eye could trace, 
He haughtily smiled at its hiding-place, 

Far under the hat's broad brim. 

{ Thou 'It find,' said the Quaker, i in me and in mine, 
But friends and brothers to thee, and to thine, 
Who abuse no power, and would draw no line 
'Twixt the red man and the white, 



191 

Save the cord of love, as a sacred tie ; 
For our one great Father, who dwells on high, 
Regards that child with an angry eye, 
Who robs from his brother's right.' 

The Indian passed, and the Quaker stood, 
The righteous lord of his shadowy wood, 
Like the genius of thought, in his solitude ; 

Till his spirit, the inner man, 
Become too mighty to be repressed 
Beneath the drab on his ample breast, 
Had moved ; and simply, but neatly dressed, 

Came forth, as his lips began, — 

' I may not swear y but will prophesy ! 
This lofty forest, that towers so high, 
Must bow ; and its stately head will lie 

On the lap of its mother earth. 
When the woodman's axe shall its pride subdue, 
And its branching honors the ground shall strew, 
Then some of its parts may be reared anew, 

To shelter the peaceful hearth. 

* And some will go down upon distant ?eas, 
Be firm in the tempest, and swift in the breeze, 
While man and his treasures they waft with ease 

And safety, the world around ! 
Some to a temple the pious will raise, 
That in a new house, the ancient of days 
May hear, as his name in prayer and in praise, 

From the lips of his saints shall sound ! 



192 

• Where now the poor Indian marks the sod 
With offerings burnt to an unknown God, 
By the Gospel light shall the paths be trod 

To the courts of the Prince of peace. 
And commerce is here to appoint her mart; 
The marble will yield to the hand of art; 
From the sun of science the rays will dart, 

And the darkness of nature cease ! ' 

And thus did the visions of prophesy 
Arise and swell, to the prophet's eye, 
Till it shone so bright, and had blazed so high, 

That the gentle words, which hung 
Like a string of pearls, from his cautious lip, 
On their silver thread, he was fain to clip, 
Lest something more than the truth might slip, 

For once, from a Quaker's tongue. 

But the trees quaked too, at the things he spoke ; 
For they felt that the ' knee of the knotted oak ' 
Would bend, ere the word of a Quaker broke ; 

And they bowed and kissed the ground. 
The hammer and axe had abjured repose, 
And the mountains rang with their distant blows, 
As the forest fell, and the city rose, 

And her beauty shone around. 

For her laws — they were righteous, pure, and plain, 
As the warm in heart, and the cool in brain, 
To bind the strong in a silken chain, 
Could in wisdom and love devise. 



193 

The tongue needed not the bond of a vow, 
And man to his fellow- worm did not bow, 
Or doff the screen o'er his upright brow, 
To any beneath the skies. 

The Quaker went on, from land to land, 
With the lowly heart and the open hand 
Of one, who felt where he soon must stand, 

And his final account give in. 
For long had he made up his sober mind, 
That he could not depart to leave mankind, 
With the ample field of the earth behind, 

No better that he had been. 

And bright was the spot where the Quaker came, 
To leave it his hat, his drab, and his name, 
That will sweetly sound from the trump of Fame 

Till her final blast shall die. 
The city he reared from the sylvan shade, 
His beautiful monument now is made ; 
And long have the rivers their pride displayed 

In the scenes they are rolling by. 



194 



WASHINGTON. 

When the warm sun comes o'er the eastern hills, 
And his bright face the world with splendor fills, 
Where are the stars that crowned the brow of night ? 
Drowned in his glory ! dwindled out of sight ! 
So earth's great names will lessen, one by one, 
Fade and go out, in that of Washington; 
Who took through life, his high, untrodden way, 
Unmatched, as through heavens, the orb of day. 

Return, ye mighty, ye illustrious dead, 
Whose shining deeds on history have shed 
Its purest radiance — who from age to age, 
Have left your names, as stars, upon the page 
Of the world's annals ! now return and play 
Your parts again, and who shall wear the bay ? 
The wreath that blooms without a blighted leaf, 
Is on the forehead of our nation's chief! 

Bring out your swords, ye warriors, from the hush 
Of their long slumbers ! while a thousand blush, 
For madly clashing in the needless strife, 
With blood that tells of wanton sport with life, 
One v'isely- tempered, shines without a stain ! 
Columbia's hero ne'er unsheathed in vain ! 
By noble means, he noble ends pursued, 
Whose first great conquest was himself subdued. 



195 

Ye Patriots, come ! and all your breasts unveil ; 
Show whose the flame that was the last to fail. 
'T is his, who on our country's altar cast 
His dearest private interests to the last ; 
Till self consuming for a people's right, 
Rose like a cloud of incense, in the sight 
Of earth and heaven, and from a weary hand, 
The baffled foeman dropped his harmless brand ! 

Statesmen and Sages ! come and cluster round ! 
Who aimed so high, reflected so profound, 
As our great Counsellor ! His mental light 
Shone for a people, gave a nation sight. 
He, a fair pillar, by a Master hand, 
Sublime towers o'er you, rock-based, firm and grand. 
Wisdom, and strength, and beauty ! these combined 
To form the perfect structure of his mind. 

Philanthropists, from every clime, draw near ; 
While in your midst we set your high compeer, 
Rehearse your lives, and prove, if any can, 
Who honored God, by purer love to man, 
Than glowed within the bosom that is laid 
In holy rest, beneath the cypress-shade, 
Where Vernon gives our deathless Friend a tomb, 
To slumber with his laurels all in bloom. 

Souls of the just made perfect ! which of you, 
More just and perfect, bade the world adieu, 
Than our immortal Chieftain ? Here he bore 
The high commission from his King to pour 



196 

The oil of joy upon a struggling land — 
To give a nation being by his hand ; 
Yet, o'er the earth, with garments undenled, 
Walked before heaven, as a little child. 

Spirit of Washington ! though often told, 

The story of thy deeds can ne'er grow old, 

Till no young breast remains to be inspired, 

And virtue, valor, greatness have expired. 

But should the land whose bondage thou hast broke, 

Barter her freedom for another yoke, 

Oh ! look not down upon her ! she will be 

Debased, nor worth a father's smile from thee. 



197 
THE GREAT REFINER. 

" And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." 

'T is sweet to feel that he, who tries 

The silver, takes his seat 
Beside the fire that purifies ; 

Lest too intense a heat, 
Raised to consume the base alloy, 
The precious metal too destroy. 

'T is good to think how well he knows 

The silver's power to bear 
The ordeal to which it goes ; 

And that, with skill and care, 
He '11 take it from the fire, when fit 
For his own hand to polish it. 

'T is blessedness to know that he 

The piece he has begun 
Will not forsake, till he can see, 

To prove the work well done, 
An image, by its brightness shown, 
The perfect likeness of his own.* 

But ah ! how much of earthly mould, 

Dark relicks of the mine, 
Lost from the ore must he behold , 

How long must he refine, 

* Silver, undergoing' the process of refining - , suddenly assumes an appearance 
of great brilliancy, when purified, and reflects objects like a mirror. 

39 



198 

Ere in the silver he can trace 

The first faint semblance to his face. 

Thou great Refiner ! sit thou by 

Thy promise to fulfil, 
Moved by thy hand, beneath thine eye, 

And melted at thy will, 
O, may thy work forever shine, 
Reflecting beauty pure as thine ! 



199 



THE WATERFALL. 

Ye mighty waters, that have joined your forces, 
Roaring and dashing with this awful sound, 

Here are ye mingled : but the distant sources 

Whence ye have issued, where shall they be found? 

Who may retrace the ways that ye have taken, 
Ye streams and drops ? who separate you all, 

And find the lovely places ye 've forsaken, 
To come and rush together down the fall ? 

Through thousand, thousand paths have ye been roam- 
ing, 

In earth and air, who now each other urge 
To the last point ! and then, so madly foaming, 

Leap down at once, from this stupendous verge. 

Some in the low'ring cloud awhile were centred, 
That in the stream beheld its sable face, 

And melted into tears, that falling entered 
With sister waters on the sudden race. 

Others, to light that beamed upon the fountain, 
Have from the vitals of the rock been freed, 

In silver threads, that, shining down the mountain, 
Turned off among the verdure of the mead. 

And many a flower that bowed beside the river, 
In opening beauty, ere the dew was dried, 

Shook by the breeze, has been an early giver 
Of her pure offering to the rolling tide. 



200 

Thus from the veins, through earth's dark bosom pour- 
ing, 

Many have flowed in tributary streams ; 
Some, in the bow that bent, the sun adoring, 

Have shone in colors borrowed from his beams. 

But He, who holds the ocean in the hollow 
Of his strong hand, can separate you all ! 

His searching eye the secret way will follow, 
Of every drop that hurries to the fall ! 

We are like you, in mighty torrents mingled, 
And speeding downward to one common home, 

Yet there *s an eye that every drop hath singled, 
And marked the winding ways through which we 



Those who have here adored the Sun of heaven, 
And shown the world their brightness drawn from 
him, 

Again before him, though their hues be seven, 
Shall blend their beauty, never to grow dim. 

We bless the promise, as we thus are tending 
Down to the tomb, that gives us hope to rise, 

Before the Power to whom we now are bending, 
To stand his bow of glory in the skies ! 



201 



WINTER AND SPRING. 

* Adieu ! ' Father Winter sadly said 

To the world, when about withdrawing, 
With his old white wig half off his head, 
And his icicle fingers thawing. 

■ Adieu ! I am going to the rocks and caves, 
And must leave all here behind me ; 

Or, perhaps I shall sink in the Northern waves, 
So deep that none can find me.' 

* Good lack ! good luck, to your hoary locks ! f 

Said the gay young Spring, advancing ; 
You may take your rest 'mid the caves and rocks, 
While I o'er the earth am dancing. 

1 But there is not a spot where your foot has trod,. 

You hard, and clumsy old fellow, 
Not a hill, nor a field, nor a single sod, 

But I must make haste to mellow. 

1 And then I shall carpet them o'er with grass, 
Which will look so bright and cheering, 

That none will regret that they let you pass 
Far out of sight and of hearing. 

1 The fountains that you locked up so tight, 

When I shall give them a sunning, 
Will sparkle and play with my warmth and light, 

And the streams will set to running. 



202 

1 I '11 speak in the earth to the palsied root, 
That under your reign was sleeping ; 

I '11 teach it the way in the dark to shoot, 
And draw out the vine to creeping. 

1 The boughs that you cased so close in ice 

It was chilling e'en to behold them, 
I'll deck all over with buds so nice, 

My breath can alone unfold them. 

1 And when all the trees are with blossoms dressed, 

The bird with her song so merry 
Will come to the branches to build her nest, 

With a view to the future cherry. 

1 The earth will show by her loveliness, 

The wonders I am doing, 
While the skies look down, with a smile, to bless 

The way that I 'm pursuing ! ' 

Said Winter, ' Then I would have you learn 

By me, my gay new-comer, 
To push off too, when it comes your turn 

And yield your place to Summer ! ' 



203 



FOLLY MADE LEFT-HANDED. 

Wit was fairly tired of play ; 
And the little archer lay 
On a grassy bank, one day, 

By a gurgling river. 
Here, he thought he 'd take a nap, 
And to guard them from mishap, 
In his mantle he would wrap 

His golden bow and .quiver. 

Scarce a moment had he slept, 
Ere upon his ringer stepped 
Some one, who was no adept 

In the art of creeping. 
Wit was ever quick to feel, 
Soon he knew the heavy heel — 
Folly came his bow to steal, 

While he thought him sleeping. 

He arose, and, ' now,' said he, 
' Let my bow and arrows be, 
Till their use you learn of me, 

Folly, I beseech you ! 
But, if you would know my art, 
And be skilful with the dart, 
Let's a moment stand apart, 

So that I may teach you.' 



204 

Folly moved a pace or two ; 

Wit took aim, and quickly drew — 

* Whiz !' the arrow went, and flew, 

Fastening in his shoulder. 
' Oh !' cried Folly, ■ Oh ! I 'm dead ? 
1 Wounded both in heart and head ! 
1 You will live,' Wit smiling said, 

* To be ages older. 

1 Banish every vain alarm, 
You receive no other harm 
Than a useless, palsied arm, 

For an hour of fooling. 
Hence, of that right hand bereft, 
Folly, you must use your left, 
A memento of your theft 

And my timely schooling ! ' 

Wisdom saw the war begin 
' Twixt the two so near akin, 
And she would, by stepping in, 

Fain have made them wiser. 
But, she was repelled by both, 
Who, alike incensed and loath 
To be tutored, took an oath 

Ever to despise her. 



205 

SUNRISE TO THE SLAVE. 

Sun, from thy bed in the sea, 
Each morning I see thee arise ; 

But what is thy glory to me, 

Whose days are but measured by sighs ? 

The fringe of thy robe I behold 

Spread warm o'er the quivering wave, 

But feel all is cheerless and cold, 
And night, in the breast of the slave. 

When nature from slumber springs up, 
And the freshness of morning regains, 

I see all the gall in my cup} 

I feel all the weight of my chains. 

For not till thy splendor, bright sun, 
Has faded and gone, in the west, 

From toil ere thy rising begun 

Is the spirit-worn bondman to rest. 

Shall He, whose pure image thou art, 
Be named by the impious tongue 

Of one, who can banquet his heart 
On groans from humanity wrung ? 

Can He, who is brightness divine, 

Whose wings waft but healing and balm, 

Behold a hand raised at his shrine, 
With slavery marked on its palm ? 
41 



206 

Make haste, thou great day of account, 
When the light of the world shall appear, 

Recalling his word on the Mount, 
And avenging the sufferer here ! 

Speed ! speed, star of day through the route 

By nature allotted to thee ! 
When thou from the skies art struck out, 

Will come that blest Sunrise to me ! 



207 



DEATH OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Dead ! Is he then silent, and pale and cold, 

Like common, unenvied clay ? 
That golden bowl broken, and loosed the hold 
Of the silver cord ? — as a tale that 's told, 

Has that brilliant star passed away ? 

Has the great magician so soon resigned 

The wand that he used at will, 
To move the springs of the strongest mind, 
The deepest fount of the soul to find, 

And the world by its touch to thrill ? 

It parted the sable waves that sweep 

Across oblivion's sea, 
And brought up to light from that fearful deep, 
The things that for ages it had to keep, 

In their primal identity. 

It broke the seal of the secret tomb ! — 

It opened the graves of men, 
It made their ashes their fire resume, 
And touched them with beauty and life and bloom, 

Till they breathed and they moved again ! 

Time ! what hast thou to do with one, 

Who knew not a wasted hour- — 
Whose pen with the sands of thy glass could run 
And show at each turning a miracle done, 

A work that defies thy power ? 
42 



208 

And bright is the lustre his hand has shed 

O'er the world that must claim him still ; 
For, though from our vision his form has fled, 
His mind is here, and we own not dead, 
What death has not power to kill. 

No — while the earth for the tale of wo, 

Has a bosom to heave a sigh ; 
An eye to beam, or a heart to glow 
At the debt of joy that to thee we owe, 

Sir Walter, thou canst not die ! 

Thou 'It still give wings to the lonely hour, 

A spell to the calm retreat, — 
Thou 'It be the charm in the lady's bower, 
And life's rude path with many a flower 

Bestrew for the pilgrim's feet ! 

Yes, mighty spirit ! most warm and free 
Are our thanks for so blest a lot, 

As gave us our day upon earth with thee ; 

And thousands and thousands, yet to be, 
Will honor the Shade of Scott ! 



IMITATIONS OF THE SCOTTISH. 



ADDRESS TO AN INFANT. 

Wee, bonnie bud, how didst thou dare 
To shoot amid this scene o' care ; 
Upon the shore o' time to stand 
A' feeble frae thy Maker's hand ; 
Where thou maun tak' the dews that fa', 
The frosts that chill, the blasts that blaw f 
While mony a tint o' sun an' shade 
Will on thy tender leaves be laid, 
As they are openin' saft an' new, 
A' spotless, to receive their hue ? 

Thou art a lovely, shinin' gem, 
Alane upon thy parent stem ; 
Where Heaven permit thee lang to bide, 
Its joy, its ornament an' pride ! 
An' may this warld o' vice and pain, 
Withhaud frae thee its blight an' stain. 
An' let thee catch unsullied dyes, 
An' draw thine odors frae the skies ! 



210 

Avert thee frae the noisome weed, 

An' let thy heart nae canker feed ; 

But keep thy health an' strength secure — 

Thy head erect — thy bosom pure ; 

That He, wha gied the blossom birth, 

May hae the fruit mature frae earth ! 



211 



THE SILLER PEN. 

I tell you what ! twixt frien' an frien', 

I dinna like the siller pen. 

An', sin' my reason ye wad ken, 

Tho' odd enough, I '11 gie it. 
It is too perfect — ilka part 
It does, is wi' sic care an' art, 
There's nae a particle'o' heart 

Or feelin' gangin wi' it ! 

'T is nae the siller I despise ; 
For poortith loud an' daily cries : 
An', if I had but mair supplies, 

I 'd then feel a' the better. 
But, tho' 't wad truly glad my een 
To see its bright an' cheerfu' sheen, 
My purse's hollow sides between, 

Ise shun it in the letter ! 

I wad na see the new-born thought, 
Laid on the sheet, sae stiff an' straught, 
As if 't were dead, an' cauld ; an' brought 

Before me for interment. 
I like the gracefu', yieldin nib, 
To gang sae careless an' sae glib, 
An' shoot my fancies, like a squib, 

Just while they're in the ferment ! 



212 

An', whiles (ye 've, aiblins, felt the pain,) 

I wait upon the tardy brain 

For something I can ne'er obtain, 

An' founder'd a' thegether ; 
I like, if I can do nae mair, 
To hae the quill to scrape an' pare, 
An' find the faut o' dullness there, 

In honest goosie's feather. 

For nature's laws maun be obey'd, 
An' this is ane she strictly laid 
On ilka saul she ever made, 

Down frae our earliest mither : 
1 Be sel your first an' greatest care — 
Frae a' reproach the darlin spare, 
An' ony blame, that she should bear, 

Pit off upon anither ! ' 

Had nature ta'en a second thought, 
A better precept she had taught ; 
An' guid instead o' evil wrought 

By those the power possessin ! 
For, sel had been pit out o' sight, 
The love o' ithers brought to light : 
In short, the wrang had a' been right, 

An' man to man a blessin ! 



• 4 



213 



EPISTLE TO A FRIEND. 

The sun, my frien', has reached the west, 

And now the pensive gloamin, 
Wi' thoughts o' a' I lo'e the best, 

Is fast upon me comin ; 
Sae, now I tak' my fitfu' pen, 

Ere yet the stars are blinkin, 
And set me down to let ye ken, 

On whom I maist am thinkin. 

Sin dearest friens maun often part, 

He well deserved a blessin, 
Wha taught the warld the scribblin art, 

Sae richly worth possessin ; 
For, when awa our lo'ed anes gang, 

By this we proof can gie 'em, 
That to our hearts, nae gate's sae lang 

But they can gang it wi' 'em. 

My Musie's coy, as ye maun see, 

And mickle seeks to shun me ; 
But, Ise just keep her i' my e'e, 

Tho' she may quite out run me. 
And should my verse be unco lame, 

I hope ye '11 na reject it, 
But tak' it a' in friendship's name ; 

And, charity protect it ! 



214 

I hope ye 're well, an' braw, an' gay, 

An' thinkin o' returnin — 
That ye '11 come hame as blithe as May, 

And rosy as its mornin ; 
And when we get ye safely back, 

A' fu' o' glee to find ye ; 
To see ye smile an' hear ye crack, 

'Bout things ye 've lefl behind ye. 

I fain wad think o' something new 

Wi' us, that's worth disclosin, 
But bavin sma' or nought to do, 

Our warld lias fa'en a dozin. 
And life is like a standin pool, 

Sae void o' sound an' motion, 
Ye 'd think the betherel, wi' his shool, 

Had paid us a' devotion. 

Wi mickle loss o' this warld's gear 

The hand o' Gude has tried us, 
And wealth an' commerce languish here, 

And seem a' maist denied us. 
Our dwellins, as ye 've seen o' late, 

Leuk waur for time an' weather ; 
They and their ainers ha'e ane gate 

An' meet decay thegither. 

But nature's warks are bright an' fair, 

Tho' art's are gaun to ruin, 
As if she 'd mak' some kind repair 

Where poortith's haun's undoin. 



A 



£ 



215 

For, greener grass was never prest 

Aneath the foot o' Adam, 
Nor svveter flowers could e'er ha'e drest 

The bosom o' his madam, 

Than those that spring an' bud an' blaw, 

A beautious garment throwin 
O'er ilka chink an' broken wa', 

To keep the gaps fra showin. 
And clear our sparklin burnie glides, 
^ While down to ocean gangin, 
As if, along its shinin sides, 

A' Eden's fruits were hangin. 
| 
Our trees wi' shade our walks supply, 

While scorchin heat oppresses ; 
And when the simmer sun's gaen by, 

The} 7 doff their coolin' dresses. 
Our bonnie birds their boughs amang 

Their artless sangs are singin, 
And daily to their callow young 

Some kind refreshment bringin. 



\- 



And, when as now, the night is seen 

O'er a' creation closin, 
Within their nest they close their een, 

Their weary wings reposin. 
And could I tell our birdies' dreams, 

Perchance they might amuse ye, 
But tho 5 sae sma 5 the favor seems, 

9 T is what I maun refuse ye. 



216 

For 't is sae late, the siller moon 

Has spread her shinin banner ; 
By her an' a' that 's bright aboon, 

I 'm still your constant Hannah. 
P. S. My name was ne'er, I need nae tell, 

A ward to sair the poet, 
And, but for this, ye bear 't your sel, 

In verse I wad nae show it ! 



i 



217 

GREETIN MARY. 

; Where are ye gaun sae lane an' late, 
While fast the dew fa's o'er the lea ? 

Say, lassie, hae ye tint your gate, 
That hangs sic pearls at either e'e ? ' 

1 Ah ! no — my path I ken fa' weel, 
For oft it feels my lanely feet ; 

At ilka gloamin hour I steal 

To ane dear spot to sigh an' greet. 

' 'T is there I haste these tears to drap 
Among the tall, saft grass that sweeps, 

Alang the clods o' earth's hard lap, 

Where, pale an' cauld, my Jemmie sleeps. 

4 The lee-lang day I wear a smile, 
To hide the marks o' dool an' care ; 

But wish this achin heart, the while, 
Wad bleed to death an' throb nae mair. 

1 But, when the e'enin shades draw near, 
An' nane my dreary gate may tent, 

When, why I roam, there 's.nane to spier, 
To yon green grave my steps are bent. 

' An' there my Jemmie's ghaist I meet, 

To talk o' joys forever fled ; 
I pour my sorrows forth like weet, 

An' lang to mingle wi' the dead ! 
44 



218 

* Ah ! why does fate delight to break 

The warmest hearts — the strongest ties ? 

Why will not earth my ashes tak' 
An* let my saul to Jemmie rise ? ' 



219 



THE BELLWORT, 

Look up, look up, thou timid thing, 
Nor let thy head sae pensive hing ! 
I am nae tyrant come to wring 

Thee frae the earth. 
Thou art the daughter o' a King — 

O' royal birth ! 

An' he, wha fashioned me to think, 
Maks suns to shine, an' starnies blink - 
Gies ilka root in earth its drink 

An' daily fare ! 
So, dinna fear he '11 let thee sink 

Below his care. 

For, tho' he formed thy slender bell 
To drap within the laighlie dell, 
He kens an' lo'es thee just as well 

As the tall tree, 
That, proud as if it made itsel 

Towers over thee. 

An', wha that sees his ringer move, 
To turn the spheres that roll above, 
Will need a word o' mine to prove 

That, in his sight, 
Thou an' the cedar o' the grove 

Are like in height ? 



220 

But then, he *d hae thee be content 
To live an' die were thou wert sent; 
An* ne'er get a' unwisely bent 

To quit the place, 
Whilk thy Creator ever meant 

That thou should'st grace. 

Like thee, should ilka virtuous mind, 
Where fa's its lot, there be resign'd, 
Tho' humble here, it soon will find 

That in the sequel, 
The haughtiest laird o' human kind 

Is but its equal ! 



221 



TO AUTUMN. 

By the sorrowfu' look o' the hill an' the glen, 
A' stripp'd o' the pride o' the simmer again, 
I ken ye hae come wi' your hoarse, rude breath, 
And pit the green grass an' sweet flowers a' to death. 

Ye wad nae gie a drop o' bright glistenin dew 
To soften the spot where the violet grew — 
An' drooping an' pale, she has pillow'd her head 
Mid your cauld, cauld frost, on her hard death-bed. 

The bird wi' her sang, ye hae bidden to flee 
Frae the comfortless branch o' the shiverin tree ; 
While, restless an' harmless, the yellow leaves fly 
'Twixt the dool o' the earth and the scowl o' the sky ! 

Ye hae torn the fond tendrils, that closely wad twine 

To haud up their parent the languishin vine, 

An', there's nae a sweet thing the mild simmer could 

cherish, 
But your sharp fingers nip, till ye ken it maun perish. 

An', when ye hae finished your pitiless doins 
i An' the fields are a' scattered wi' death an' wi' ruins, 
Cauld winter will come, wi' his snaw an' his sleet, 
To hide them frae sight wi' a white windin-sheet. 



222 

How mickle to man are misfortune an' grief, 
Like yoursel to the earth, when ye part branch an' leaf! 
For when the cauld blasts o' adversity blaw, 
Every sweet flower o' joy frae his bosom maun fa'. 

Wi' care he is wasted, an' weary, an' worn — 
The ties o' affection are loosened an' torn, 
Till the spark o' his life, 'mid the ruins, will fail 
An' his ashes are gien to the clods o' the vale. 

Yet, he may go down in full hope o' the dawn, 
Ayont the dark tomb, o' eternity's morn; 
"Where your stern chillin features nae mair will be seen, 
An' the flowers are a' deathless — the fields ever green. 



223 

THE SEALING WAX. 

Bright guardian o' the thoughts o' men ! 
Sin I maun fasten up, an' sen' 
To either een, the things my pen 

Has been about, 
I wish ye, just for surety's sake, 
To blaze an' rin, then stap an' take 
My seal, to bind ye na to break, 

An' let them out. 

For, be my whimsies great or sma', 
I wad na let them loose, to fa' 
Where a' the idle wins that blaw, 

To whirl the stoure, 
May toss them round frae mou to mou, 
Wi' different nature, form an' hue, 
To come frae ilk they 're hurried through, 

An' a' ground o'er. 

This warld's a curious ane enough; 
An', weel supplied wi' kindling-stuff, 
It winna quench, while it can puff 

The reekin flax. 
An' what could pass through smoke an' flame, 
An' like yoursel, come out the same, 
In beauty, virtue, hue an' name, 

My cannie wax ? 

I wadna ca' the warld unfair, 
Or wrang it in a single hair ; 
But, wha kens maist o't, kens the mair 
How oft it slips, 



224 

For want o' rectitude or thought, 
Sae far upon the side o' faut, 
That truth is seldom pure or straught 
Between its lips. 

I winna judge the warld's intent; 
But then, its een are sae asklent, 
The fairest things leuk foul an' bent, 

The foulest, fair. 
I canna, therefore, now foresee 
What sort o' tilings my thoughts wad be, 
If robbed o' their identity 

By gettin' air. 

Gin folk wad kindly let alane 

A neighbor's wark, to tent their ain, 

Ye wad na hae to thus sustain 

A martyr's fate, 
By bein' burnt to prove how fast 
Ye '11 baud your virtue to the last, 
Like precious gowd, until ye 're past 

Your distant gate. 

But, sin I hope the warld will men', 

We winna let it ever ken 

What I hae whispered as a frien', 

Tho' strictly true. 
Gang now, an' guard these secrets weel ! 
May ane, wha breaks ye, ca' ye 'leal,' 9 
For what, when broken, ye reveal ! 

Adieu! Adieu ! 



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